


Misspelled

by Cala



Series: Semiautomagic AU [2]
Category: CW Network RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Community: spn_j2_bigbang, M/M, wizard!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-16
Updated: 2011-07-16
Packaged: 2017-10-21 11:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cala/pseuds/Cala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Jensen Ackles and I'm a wizard. Only my life is nothing like the lives of other wizards you might've heard about.</p><p>When Jensen stumbles onto a crime scene, he has no choice but to call his friend at the Special Investigation Unit, Chris Kane. What started as an easy missing persons case quickly changes into one life-and-death situation after another, with vampires and faeries fighting for dominance, threatening the balance of the supernatural community. To top it all off, Jensen can't help getting closer and closer to Jared, wondering if it's the man's vampire charm causing fireworks between them. Oh, and, because Jensen's life wasn't difficult enough, his magic is also getting out of control...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misspelled

_My name is Jensen Ackles and I'm a wizard. Only my life is nothing like the lives of other wizards you might've heard about._

 _I saw a cartoon once, where Mickey Mouse was a wizard. He was living in a tall tower, wearing a pointy hat with stars on it, waving his hands around and generating lots of sparks._

 _If I ever did that, my landlady would evict me, the fire department would charge me with causing a fire hazard and the judge would most likely send me to the loony bin instead of prison._

 _Yeah. No sparkly Disney movie stuff for me._

 _When the made-for-tv movie of my life comes out, it will start with a deep voice, saying „Previously—„ and list all the reasons why my life sucks._

 _It would be a very long list._

\- - -

Jensen always said that he became a wizard because magic was the only thing he knew how to do. Early on, he embraced his talent for magic and decided to make a career out of it. He wasn't very good with people, so politics were out of the question. It was the reason why he never tried to be Merlin, and maybe that was for the best, since it was really hard to find an unattached little pet king.

Instead, Jensen often struggled to make ends meet. No matter how hard he worked, how impactful his ad was in the Yellow Pages, being self-employed was never all sunshine and daisies. His biggest client was the NYPD Special Investigations Unit, most of his other gigs were so few and far between, they barely even registered.  
Most of SI’s cases were violent and required Jensen to oppose evil warlocks or supernatural creatures that were out to get him. While technically the healing spell was the first one he learned after deciding to go out into the world, most of his profits were spent on medical bills, since he had to be conscious to cast it, which wasn't always the case.

Take the last major case he worked on. A murder in Central Park, violent and bloody, ended with Jensen in hospital. And before he regained consciousness, the hospital staff managed to process him, hook him up to an IV, run some tests and patch him up.

They were very efficient and professional. Something Jensen would no doubt appreciate if it didn't leave him with a huge bill to pay, thanks to his lack of medical insurance.

Yeah, his life sucked, Jensen was painfully aware of that.

On the plus side, he did recover the blood amulet he was after, which threw a wrench into the plans of three major players in the city. Jensen was still unclear as to what the amulet could be used for specifically, but it was clear it was a powerful artifact and it was generally a bad idea to let crime lords, vampires and already powerful Faerie get their hands on more powerful magic.

Apart from that little win, Jensen couldn't claim too many successes.

It had been a month since Chris Kane, Jensen's liaison with NYPD's Special Investigation Unit called him about the body in Central Park. Since then, Jensen managed to land in hospital, burn down an apartment belonging to a Red Court vampire, anger a Faerie queen enough for her to put a hit on him, and meet Jared, a White Court vampire moonlighting as a rookie in Kane's unit.

The case itself was going nowhere, with leads going cold quickly. That made Kane frustrated and he never hesitated to tell Jensen what a useless consultant he was.

Jensen was stuck trying to work out the magical end of the case concentrating on the amulet and it's purpose, but if he was to be perfectly honest, he was getting nowhere. Blood magic was never his thing and while he could probably find a book or two, the blood energy in the amulet was dark enough for there to be little to no actual information.

It's not like he could just call another wizard to ask about blood magic artifacts. It would no doubt land him in front of the White Council, and those guys usually executed first, asked questions later.

Unlike any other judicial system, people holding a lot of power (magical or not) were usually suspicious of other powerful people, so Jensen really didn't want to face the White Council.

It left him with one blood magic artifact he didn't know what to do with, so, with limited options, he stored it “safely” under the floorboards in his apartment.

~*~

Jensen woke up in his own bed. By now it wasn't such a novelty, but he appreciated it every time. The warmth and comfort made him smile even though he kept his eyes closed. There was no emergency he needed to help with, no immediate threat. If he wanted to, he could just stay in bed and sleep in. For a moment there, he was tempted to do just that.

The reality quickly caught up with him though. The day he had ahead of himself didn't include procrastination. He rubbed his cheek against the pillow and slowly opened his eyes. It was time to face the day.

Though the first thing Jensen actually faced was Jared.

Jared smiled at him and Jensen found himself smiling back. It was difficult not to, especially when his higher brain functions weren't exactly there yet. It was hard to resist Jared when Jensen was fully conscious, it was almost impossible in moments like this.

"Morning," Jared whispered leaning closer. Jensen registered a warm breath on his lips and a gentle touch of fingertips on his cheek. They were lying so close to each other that he wouldn't even have to reach far to be able to touch Jared and he really liked the idea.

Then he realized something. They were lying so close to each other they almost touched.

He moved away so fast, he almost got whiplash.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. He was completely awake now and the entire situation had stopped being comforting. He was suddenly painfully aware of a White Court vampire in his bed.

Jared sighed and rolled away as well. He stretched on the bed and Jensen couldn't stop from checking him out. His fingers twitched, wanting to touch that skin, but he dug them into the covers instead.

"Jared?" Jensen prompted the other man, when he didn't reply right away. He had to keep the conversation on point, or he would get distracted again. "What are you doing here?"

"I missed you," Jared said and pretended to pout. In a way it was more endearing than if he actually pouted. "I didn't have the excuse of a case, so I decided to take the initiative," he grinned.

Jensen could only roll his eyes and get out of bed. Of course that would be Jared's explanation. In the time Jensen had known Jared, he learned quickly that the vampire liked to just go with his instincts. Which meant that if he wanted to see Jensen, he would do just that.

In a way, Jensen got used to Jared's constant attention, even though he still refused to give in to what he was feeling, sure it was just a by-product of Jared's White Court powers.

He started to walk towards the kitchen, figuring that since he was already up, he might as well make some breakfast and lots and lots of coffee to start his day on the right note. He heard quiet footsteps behind him, telling him Jared was following him.

A month ago, it would make him uneasy. Now it was just a reminder of Jared's presence; something he no longer minded. At least not much and certainly not before his first cup of coffee.

Without much conscious thought, he turned on his coffee maker and opened the fridge, trying to find something that was still edible. He spent a good minute or two just staring at the contents of his fridge before Jared gently pushed him to the side.

"I'll make breakfast. You go drink coffee. Your attempts to engage your higher brain functions make for a sad, sad image. You’re just begging for a mercy kill," Jared said with a fond smile on his face and Jensen wondered if he could cast spells without caffeine in his system. It was worth a try...

"Then again, a mercy killing by my hand would be incredibly pleasurable, so who knows. You might be acting like that on purpose," the smile on Jared's face turned into a mischievous grin that Jensen recognized very well by now. It was always closely followed by a flash of silver in Jared's eyes.

Sure enough, Jared's eyes turned silver for a quick second before returning to their usual, warm, brown. It was a sight Jensen hated. A reminder of Jared's vampire nature that always lurked beneath the smiles, flirting and warmth. It was a sure-fire way to get Jensen to focus and resist the urge to kiss Jared and just let go of everything.

Even though he suspected that Jared was a really good kisser, Jensen didn't want to be just a snack, allowing the vampire to feed of off his life force, as the White Court did.

When he saw the silver taking over Jared's iris, Jensen quickly looked away, concentrating on the coffee that was starting to fill the kitchen with a wonderful smell. He heard Jared moving in the background, vaguely wondering what the other man would come up for breakfast.

For someone who didn't have to eat, Jared sure knew how to cook. Something Jensen appreciated in moments like this one.

The coffee maker made a high-pitched sound, announcing that the coffee was ready and Jensen poured it into two mugs. One, bigger, for him and the other for Jared. Once he offered coffee to Jared, he concentrated on his own mug.

He inhaled the aroma and let out a happy sigh. For the next several minutes there was only him and his coffee. When he opened his eyes, which he didn't even register closing, he saw Jared watching him with amusement.

"How did you get through the shields?" he asked, frowning. It was a sudden thought, but once it appeared, he decided it was a valid question. The protective shields he spread every night around his apartment were supposed to keep all the supernatural creatures out. And if any of them made it in, they were supposed to be significantly weakened.

Jared didn't look weakened at all, which made Jensen worry.

He watched Jared frown, confusion clear on his face.

"What shields?" he asked surprised. "There were no shields when I came in."

Jensen really didn't like the sound of that. He put down his coffee and went to the living room to inspect the shields he remember casting on the doorway. He cast a quick magic revealing spell to see the magic woven into the doorway, only to realize that the barely-there green glow was so weak it might've as well be missing completely.

"What the..." he asked himself. There was no way he could've made a mistake. Protective spells were something of a specialty of his, with as much practice as he had while working for SI, he was almost capable of casting those spells in his sleep. With both hands tied behind his back.

There was no way he had made a mistake during the casting. Additionally, he was well rested, replenishing his strength for the past two weeks, so it couldn't be a matter of his inner batteries running out.

"See? No shields. But don't worry, I didn't exactly sleep, so nothing would have been able to jump you," obviously Jared was trying to be helpful. It made Jensen think of all the creatures that wanted him dead and who, apparently, could walk right in to what should have been the safest of places, and try to off him.

He felt a gentle touch on his arm, sending a shiver down his spine, making him *want*. It momentarily distracted him from his worries.

"Come on, let's finish breakfast. The toast won't eat itself," Jared suggested cheerfully and Jensen had to shake his head to clear his mind. With a final, worried glance at the door and the weakened shields, he joined Jared in the kitchen. He would worry about that later.

~*~

Despite himself, Jensen enjoyed Jared's company. Sure, he always made sure that there was some distance between them, so that the temptation was minimal, but still. When Jensen wasn't fighting for his control to remain strong and when Jared wasn't coming on to him, they actually had a lot of fun.

Take the breakfast they were having at the moment. While Jensen worried about the nonexistent shields, Jared started to tell him all about that rookie that was supposed to replace Jared at the bottom of the food chain at SI, doing his best to distract Jensen from the problem.

"I was so hopeful, you know? I mean Kane's awesome and his sunny personality just makes you want to work for the guy, and all," Jared said with a straight face which made Jensen snort with disbelief. "But it would be nice to have somebody else crawl through garbage and spend hours upon hours sorting out the paperwork. I mean it was all fine when I just charmed somebody else into doing it for me, but since you... Well since I started to do all that by myself, I started to dream about somebody new coming in."

It made Jensen smile. At the very beginning, he made it very clear what he thought of Jared's habit of using his vampire powers on mortals just to get them to do what he wanted. Jared's powers made people want to please him, but to Jensen it was too close to cold manipulation. It was one thing, he told Jared, not to have control over those powers, and another to use it consciously to bend other people's minds.

Jared had to notice the smile because suddenly he seemed much more pleased with himself, as he continued.

"Anyway. This new guy that got transferred from Narcotics had a lot of potential. At least I thought so. But a week into the job, he requested a transfer to another city. City! Can you imagine? It's like Kane did that on purpose. I swear, if I didn't know for sure that he was human, I would start suspecting he had a secret deal with hell, or at least some vampire court. It's like he takes pleasure in breaking the new people," he said lightly, grin on his face confirming that Jared was just joking.

Jensen couldn't help himself and laughed.

"Maybe he just doesn't want to let go of you," he suggested and watch Jared beam. The bright smile made his stomach tighten and he suddenly wanted to reach over the counter to touch Jared. Instead, Jensen dug his fingers into his thigh to focus again.

"You're right!" Jared responded cheerfully, clearly unaware of the effect his smile had on Jensen. "I'm that awesome. I bet he can't sleep worrying that some incompetent rookie will come along and force the brass to promote me to full detective."

Jensen shook his head and rolled his eyes, for good measure.

"You keep thinking that Jay. Whatever helps you do your paperwork," Jensen patted Jared's hand aiming for patronizing. But when the touch lingered, he had to, once again, force himself to break the contact, afraid that even something as innocent could turn into something more.

"I'm doing yours as well, you know?" Jared's tone was light, even though his eyes went sharp, registering Jensen's inner struggle.

"Oh really?"

"Well somebody has to write those reports, since you refuse to," Jared pointed out and Jensen could swear he was close to sticking his tongue out as well. "If you suddenly start filling out the paperwork the system would crumble."

The smile on Jared's face was warm and made Jensen duck his head so that Jared couldn't see the smile that was slowly appearing on Jensen's face. It was too comfortable. *They* were too comfortable.

The voice in the back of Jensen's mind, the one that sounded disturbingly like Kane, was whispering how nice it was that he found the time to flirt with a vampire. The idea wiped the smile away from Jensen's face.

No. This couldn't be right. They weren't flirting. They were having a conversation. Yes, they were enjoying it and the breakfast made it somewhat casual, but still. There was no flirting. Jensen knew better than to flirt with a White Court vampire.

No matter how handsome Jared was.

Thankfully, before Jensen was forced to do something he would hate himself for, say something he would regret but what would make Jared leave, the phone started to ring.

Just like that, Jensen moved away to answer the phone, habit taking over.

"Ackles," he said to the receiver, his eyes traveled to Jared when the other man started to move around the kitchen.

"You sound suspiciously well-rested," and for some reason Kane sounded smug. For the time being Jensen decided to ignore it.

"I had a full night’s sleep for the first time in a very long time, not that it's any of your business."

"And here I thought you were finally getting laid," Chris said and Jensen could just tell that he was smirking. He wished magic could work over the phone lines. If that was the case, Jensen would fry Kane's ass right there and then.

"Your interest in my sex life is disturbing," Jensen quickly responded and watched as Jared turned his head suddenly with curiosity written all over his face. Jensen thought he also saw a glimpse of a frown there, but if that was the case it was there for less than a second.

"Maybe it's because you're so much easier to work with when you're exhausted after a night of good sex. I mean, I remember the last time that happened... No, wait! That never happened. That explains so much," Kane didn't even try to hide his laughter and he was slowly getting on Jensen's nerves.

"Was there a reason you called? A case?" Jensen asked, rubbing his temple to try and get rid of the irritation. "Or did you just want to call and irritate me?"

"There's no case, actually," which would explain the light tone in Kane's voice. "But I am missing a rookie, and I was wondering if you could return him to me, relatively unharmed. I just need him for the paperwork, so if he can't sit it won't be a problem..." So, irritating Jensen really was the reason why Kane called.

"Damn it, Kane. How many times do I have to tell you. Nothing happened. Nothing *will* happen," he made a mistake of looking up at Jared when he said it and was met with an actual pout. He forced himself to roll his eyes. He didn't want to go over there and start comforting Jared. Nope, not at all.

"Oh," Chris continued, oblivious to Jensen's inner struggle. "So he didn't spend the night? Because he sure looked like he was coming over last night..."

With this, Jensen was faced with an interesting dilemma. He could lie, something he tried not to do too often because lies could corrupt a wizard as easily as dark magic, used to bending the rules and caring only for himself. Or he could tell the truth and not only convince Kane that there was something between him and Jared, but risk constant teasing and joking directed at him.

Telling a lie would be so much easier.

"Well, he’s here, but that doesn't mean anything happened," he made sure to add.

"You're hopeless," said Chris and the tone of his voice was far too serious for Jensen's liking. "Just tell the kid to get his ass to the precinct or I will have him crawling through garbage until the new millennium."

~*~

After finishing the phone call with Kane, Jensen said goodbye to Jared. He made sure that there were no lingering glances or stalling and that Jared simply got dressed and left. It didn't change the fact that he wanted for there to be lingering glances and stalling techniques that would keep Jared close. Thankfully he had more control than that.

Still, after closing the door after Jared, Jensen spent good five minutes just leaning against the door. One would think after all those years learning about magic, he would have more control than that, but he really did need those five minutes to clear his head and decide he was ready to go on with his day.

Unlike many other days, he actually has plans. He has an appointment with a client, one that isn't the NYPD or Kane. A real paying client that would allow Jensen to pay all his bills. It's been a while since Jensen was employed by somebody outside the Police Department.

From the information he’d already gathered, his client, Tyra... something, was looking for her roommate, who disappeared few days ago. Today, Jensen was supposed to go through Jessica's, the missing girl, room to look for clues and get a hold of the girl's aura.

He was confident it wouldn't take him much time, missing person cases, when aided with a location spell, usually got solved in 48 hours tops.

The apartment Tyra and her roommate were renting was located near Columbia University. Jensen used to live there, in the good old days when he thought he could be like everybody else. Unfortunately his control was far from perfect during his college days. Three fires later (vampires trying to claim the campus as their territory) and one suspicion of drug use (he had been looking at auras, it was hardly his fault they were rather psychedelic), he was expelled from the University and decided to embrace his magical side.

Visiting that part of the city again made him slightly melancholy. Even though he had problems with his magic and even a slight rise in his emotions meant something blowing up, he was much happier back then. He didn't know as much about magic, he had no idea about all the supernatural creatures, and he saw far fewer dead bodies.

For a brief moment, when he parked his car near Tyra's apartment, he imagined himself without any powers, graduating on time, in the top 10 percent because he had his moments of brilliance, maybe pursuing graduate school. It was a surreal vision so he pushed it away.

By the time he locked the car and entered Tyra's building, he was back in a proper mindset. No second-guessing his choices, no wishing for a different road.

Once he reached the apartment, he knocked gently on the door and waited. When nothing happened, he tried again. He checked his watch, just in case he got the time wrong, but no, he was, surprisingly, on time.

He knocked more forcefully and gave it a couple more seconds. Still nothing. Jensen started to worry, a sick feeling settling in his stomach. He looked both ways, making sure nobody would see him, and he put his hand on the doorknob.

He gave it a hesitant push and the door opened.

He didn't expect it. The door was supposed to be locked. No matter how good the neighborhood was, you always locked the door in New York City. If the door was unlocked...

Jensen pushed the door and entered the apartment, trying to touch as little as possible in case-- He refused to consider all possibilities. Instead, he looked around the apartment, looking for anything that might seem out of place.

The space was neat and everything was in order. He pushed the door closed and moved further inside. He didn't call out Tyra's name, he figured that if she was inside, she'd have opened the door when he knocked.

The living room wasn't as tidy, Jensen could see the obvious signs of struggle. Remembering all the lessons about handling a possible crime scene that Chris had beaten into him, Jensen moved carefully around the room trying not to disturb anything, but nothing prepared him for what he saw behind the couch.

There, lying on the floor, was Tyra. Her skin was unnaturally pale, her throat looked like somebody ripped it out.

The sarcastic voice in the back of his mind, the one that sounded suspiciously like Kane, remarked dryly that there were no clients outside of Special Investigations Unit now. As usual, Jensen ignored the voice and concentrated on the fact there was very little blood around, and the human body held a great deal of it.

Even though he knew he was supposed to call 911, he used his cell to call Kane directly. The last thing he wanted was to deal with dispatch that would ask him all sorts of stupid questions before even considering sending the uniforms.

"Kane," Chris' gruff voice greeted him after only one ringtone. It told Jensen that Kane didn't look at the caller's ID. Usually when Jensen called Chris responded with some kind of a crack joke.

"How busy are you?" Jensen asked carefully, still looking at Tyra's body. He immediately winced because even in his own ears it sounded worrying.

"Why don't I like the sound of that? What the hell's wrong, Jenny?"

"I... might be staring at a dead body," he made it sound like a question in case Kane wasn't in the mood. He heard Kane swear, which definitely wasn't a good sign.

"Only you, man. Only you... Why didn't you just call 911?"

"Call it a hunch?"

"Oh for... And the day was looking so fucking great. Paddywhack! Grab your gear, we might have a case!" Chris yelled without even bothering to move the phone away from his mouth, deafening Jensen. "Where are you Jen?"

Jensen gave him the address and disconnected the call. He could do some digging before Chris and, apparently, Jared arrived.

The first thing that came to his mind, one that would also be the quickest and easiest to perform, was reading the magical aura surrounding the place and the body.

He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, clearing his mind and opening himself to the magic around him. He made sure to relax his body and at the same time prepare himself for what he might see.

When he opened he eyes, he expected to see his own emerald green aura and the soft ivory that represented Tyra filing up the space. On top of it, there should be all the other traces of other visitors and possibly the killer.

Instead, everything in the room was red. Deep red, like the blood that should've been in Tyra's body. The sheer power of it made Jensen sway on his legs. He forced himself to look around, but he couldn't even see his own aura underneath all the red.

He closed his eyes and shook his head, to bring his mind back to the mortal world again. Opening his eyes to a living room that had been the scene of a crime and a dead body was almost a relief. He really wanted to lean against the couch, but didn't want to mess up with Kane's evidence, so he just stood there, trying to regain his balance. Every muscle in his legs was tense, Jensen was afraid his legs might give out otherwise.

The magical situation in the room overwhelmed him a little (and boy wasn't that an understatement); when he heard banging at the door, he welcomed it as an excuse to move.

He started to walk towards the door as the voice on the other side announced loudly, "NYPD! Open the door!"

"Door's open, Chris. Just come on in," he said with a heavy sigh and rubbed his left temple. His head ached a little, as if the simple act of reading the room took a lot of his own energy. On one hand it would be surprising, since reading magic lines was the easiest and almost effortless. Then again, the room was filled with negative energy, so maybe the fatigue was to be expected.

The door opened slowly and Chris took a sneak peek inside before opening the door all the way and entering the apartment. He was holstering his gun as he walked in which made Jensen raise his eyebrows in surprise. Right behind Kane, he could see Jared.

Jensen took a step to the side, giving the men extra room.

"She's in the living room, behind the couch," he told them, pointing his hand in the right direction.

Chris sent Jared to the living room with just a nod of his head, and the other man quickly obliged. It was interesting to see Jared all professional and obeying the orders he was given. It didn't give Jensen any ideas as to exactly what kind of orders he would love to have Jared obey.

Jensen wanted to comment on the fact, even if it would earn him additional mockery from Chris, but was forcefully pushed towards the living room. Kane was clearly not in the mood.

"Have you been here the whole time?" He asked.

"I wasn't here when she was murdered, if that's what you mean. But yeah, I've been here since I called you."

"Did you check out the place?"

Second question made Jensen frown.

"No, why?"

Chris just shook his head and closed his eyes. Jensen could just tell that the other man was silently counting from ten.

"Right now, I really want to beat the living shit out of you. The only reason why I'm not doing it is because I would have to find me a new magic consultant," he hissed and quietly whistled, getting Jared's attention.

"Scene's not secured," he said pulling the gun out of the holster.

Jensen watched Jared mirror that action.

"Stay here," Kane hissed and Jensen knew he wouldn't even make a step in any direction because Chris was pissed and Jensen was the reason for it, even though he didn't know why.

He watched Jared and Chris move around the apartment; disappear in the bedroom and what Jensen assumed to be a bathroom. When he heard two 'clear!' sounding from different corners of the apartment he felt surreal, as if he stepped into some bad cop show on TV.

Jensen didn't have time to dwell on that thought very long, because both Jared and Chris joined him in the living room again. Kane was already holstering his weapon, but he didn't look any less angry.

"You have no idea how lucky you are, you idiot. What if the perp was still here? You don't stay in an unsecured crime scene!"

Jensen wanted to point out he had magic to tell him if somebody had still been in the apartment, but something in Kane's eyes told him it wouldn't be the best idea.

"You!" He pointed at Jared and made the vampire stand up straighter. "He doesn't leave your sight. I need to call this in, before it turns into a double homicide."

With a final glare in Jensen's direction, Chris left the apartment, digging out his cell from the pocket of his pants. Jensen just watched him go.

"Good job Jen, really," Jared's voice was far too amused for Jensen's liking and Jensen glared at the other man.

"It's not like I can't defend myself..." he pointed out, a bit too defensive for his own liking. It made Jared raise his eyebrow.

"You did stay alert, in this world, while you waited for us to get here, right?"

Jensen hesitated for a second, not wanting to lie. It was obvious enough that Jared realized that Jensen wasn't paying much attention to his surroundings.

"I needed to get some more information. I just read the place to get a feel for what went down," still too defensive in his own ears.

Watching Jared's face become a perfect mask was interesting in an abstract way. His expression didn't betray any feelings, it was the mask Jensen had seen a month ago when he’d first met Jared in Salem, the club frequented by supernatural clientele. It was a first time that mask had been directed at Jensen. He didn't like the look, like something cold settling in his stomach.

“Oh, I can see why you’d want to try that,” Jared said, his voice completely devoid of the warmth that had been there just moments ago. “It worked so very well the last time. You know better, Jensen.”

Jensen felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. Jared was right. He did know better, had been reminded of that lesson on the night they’d met. While Jensen looked for clues in the magic realm, searching for the identity of the warlock who had killed Tim Hutton, so tightly focused he’d lost track of the physical world, an assassin stalked him.

If it wasn't for Jared, he probably would have died that night.

It didn't mean Jared got to hold that situation against Jensen for the rest of their lives. Jensen was a fricking wizard, people may have underestimated him, but he had Power. A lot of it. Maybe not enough to sit on the Wizarding Council and play wizard chess with mortals as pawns, but for right now, what was important was that he held Power.

He was a badass.

It didn't feel right to argue with Jared... Maybe because it would mean Jared's blank mask would be directed at Jensen again and Jensen wasn't sure he'd be able to take it, so he just stood there, mouth half open, looking for a way to respond to Jared. Before his brain could think of something, Kane barged back in.

"CSU and uniforms will be here soon, along with the ME. We have half an hour to hash out the details," he said and glared at Jensen again. "Why don't you tell me what you found out while you waited for us on an unsecured crime scene."

Jensen couldn't help himself and rolled his eyes. If he didn't stand up for himself he would never hear the end of it.

"Okay, I get it. I'll wait outside next time."

"Planning on finding more bodies then?"

It was Jensen's turn to glare.

"I didn't actually plan on finding this one. I was supposed to meet her for a case."

"We don't have any open cases right now," said Kane with a frown, anger momentarily forgotten.

"Believe it or not, I have other clients," Jensen pointed out. It was only a slight exaggeration.

Jared looked pointedly at the body. "Not that one, not anymore you don't," at Jensen's glare he shrugged defensively and raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying..."

On the plus side, his face was no longer a blank mask. An even a bigger plus was Kane slapping Jared upside the head. Jensen never was more grateful that Kane had not attended more anger management classes. Jared definitely deserved that, even if the quick flash of silver in his eyes made Jensen worried.

"Tell me about your case," the professional tone in Kane's voice was obvious. This was no longer his friend, Chris, or even the ever annoying liaison with the PD, Kane. This was Sergeant Kane, NYPD Special Investigations, the lead investigator on what looked like a homicide investigation with a tie-in to the supernatural community.

Jensen took a deep breath and looked at the body.

"Tyra is – was - a grad student at Columbia, so's Jessica, Tyra's roommate. She’s the girl Tyra wanted me to find." Jensen's tried to put all his thoughts in order, so that the story could be told quickly and clearly, wanting most of all to leave the place. "Jessica went missing a week ago, Tyra reported it, but the police haven’t gotten anywhere." Jensen tried very hard not to make it sound accusatory. Kane was touchy about the recognition the police got, or didn't get, for the work they did. It had something to do with the lack of recognition for the Special Investigations Unit. They never got any praise for fighting the supernatural that the police couldn’t officially admit existed, and they were always doing their best.

Kane raised his eyebrow anyway, as if warning Jensen to tread carefully.

"We agreed that I should come over and get to know Jessica and the sort of habits she had and all. It was basically an excuse for me to get to her room and get a feel on her aura, maybe get a sample of something of hers to be able to cast a location spell."

"Why an excuse?"

Jensen shrugged. "It’s tricky being a private investigator who's also a wizard. People want some physical evidence of me working the case and magic isn’t all that impressive when you’re trying to find something. When I invoice for magic rituals in my billable hours, well, they get questioned a lot, even though that's technically what they come to me for. People are weird.”

"So you came here for your appointment and found the victim?" Chris asked walking closer to the body.

He nodded, "Yeah. I called you right away. I mean her throat looks like it's been ripped out and there's very little blood around. The magical signature in this place is so red you can't even see a trace of anything else. It was definitely something supernatural."

Kane looked at him. "Vamps?" It wasn't a question, not really. Chris was just making sure he got to the right conclusion.

Jensen nodded. "Sure looks that way. Red Court most likely, although I suppose it could be the Black Court, definitely not White Court" Jensen said. His concentration was on not looking at Jared, rather than filtering the information for Kane, Jared would know exactly what he was talking about.

"Go back for a moment. Black? White? Are we playing rainbow now?" Kane sounded slightly annoyed, he always did when he didn't understand something that seemed like it could be important.

Jensen took a breath. "There are three vampire Courts that I know of. Red Court's your usual run of the mill vampires, feeding on blood. Black Court is darker than that. They feed on fear and anger and all the negative emotions you can think of. They also do dark magic and if you ever run across one, run," Jensen shivered, despite himself. "And there's White Court, they feed on life force and they are considered the weakest, but I think those are just rumors. I have done some research into them and I think they are very good at disguising what they are and what they can do..."

Chris folded his arms across his chest and Jensen took a step back before he could think about what he was doing.

"Care to tell me why I didn't know any of that? It sounds very much like something I should know about. Especially if I wanted to, say, do my job well."

"It was never relevant... There is no formal Black Court in New York," before Chris could say something he added, "and I would know if there was a significant presence. You know damn well I'm one of the most powerful wizards in this town, I register stuff like that. There’s no danger from Black, White Court keeps to the supernatural community. They almost never kill humans. The only force we only ever deal with is the Red Court, as evidenced by our recent run in with them."

Jensen might've stolen a glance at Jared when describing the White Court, only to find the vampire's face a perfect expression of curiosity, as if Jensen wasn't talking about him at all. Maybe the curiosity was honest. Maybe Jared wondered what exactly Jensen knew, what he had managed to find out in the short time since they had met. Was Jared surprised? Why would he be? Jensen wouldn't let a creature he knew little about hang out with him, it allowed far too much exposure. He had to learn how to defend himself, even if the theoretical knowledge didn’t gave him anything he could use to combat Jared's vampire charm.

"Okay," Kane's voice pulled Jensen out of his thoughts. "I want a brief on vampires on my desk by the end of the week. And not the way you provide me with your reports. I want it as detailed as possible, screw the fact that only one faction is a threat right now. I'm serious Jen. The situation might change, you might not be around to help. I need that information."

He just nodded. There was no point in arguing, Jensen would have to hit the books and provide Chris with the best paper on the vampire population of New York anyone had ever produced. Chris was right, too. If something happened to him, it would be difficult for the NYPD to find another wizard to work with them.

"In the meantime," Kane reached to his back pocket and fished out his notebook. "If the vamps are connected to this, we can't dismiss the possibility that Morgan's in on it too. I'm going to look into the possible connection between the girls and Morgan, and I'll see what forensics can find out from the scene. Jared, canvas the area, ask all the good questions, wrap some little old ladies around your finger and find me some witnesses. Jenny, you go do your mojo, find out if the freaks--” Kane grimaced and went on, “I mean the supernatural creatures, know anything about the vamps and anything weird that Tyra or Jessica might've been into. Find the missing girl, if you can too, she might be a valuable witness."

Two different emotions fought inside Jensen. On one hand, he was amused to watch Kane issue orders like he was a general and Jensen and Jared were his army. On the other hand, Jensen was a bit uneasy on how casual Chris was about suggesting Jared charm his way through the interviews. Jensen had to admit that Chris didn't know everything about Jared, he couldn't be blamed for using what he no doubt thought was just some innocent natural charm and those puppy dog eyes.

"Okay. Let me get something of Jessica's and I'm off," Jensen nodded and get on with his task. There was no point in staying behind, watching the cops do their mortal work. He'd just get in the way and annoy everybody.

“Try not to touch too many things!” Kane yelled after him. “The killer could be human and I need CSU to pick up trace evidence. I swear to God, it’s like I’m running two separate investigations at the same time… This job’s gonna kill me one day.”

He registered Jared staying behind, talking to Kane in low voice, but didn't pay much attention to it. It was probably some police business not of any importance to Jensen. It wasn’t like Jensen had exclusive rights to Jared's attention.

~*~

Jensen left Chris and Jared to their police business and left the crime scene as soon as he got his hands on something that belonged to Jessica.

He hated casting location spells. They took a lot of time and even a slightest distraction could make hours of preparation useless. Location spells were the most tricky and even though they didn't look it, locating a person instead of an object was only complicating the ritual further. At least it did for Jensen. It was different for each wizard. Jensen had heard about a guy in Chicago who could do location spells practically on the fly. He had never met the guy, but he hated him on principle.

It was possible that Jensen's dislike of location spells in general was caused by the fact that it took him ages to get cleansed properly so that any magical residue from previous spells wouldn't affect the search. That and he really hated the whole naked casting thing. They were in the twenty first century, damn it, they should be able to cast spells in their clothes without worrying about interference.

Magic didn't care how modern Jensen's views were. He had to follow the ritual or waste hours without achieving any actual results.

On his way back to his apartment, he stopped by several small shops to stock up on herbs he'd need and bought few packs of candles - he was always running out of those. By the time he’d parked in front of his apartment building, he had all the ingredients and his mood was as close to neutral as possible.

Once in his apartment, he checked the wards, locked the doors and unplugged the phone, limiting sources of distraction to a minimum. He did his best to clean up the living room, making sure the usual clutter wouldn't be in the way of free magic flow and he lit the cleansing incense to clear the room of any previous spells that could still be sensed. Then he arranged the candles.

He filled his bathtub with scented water and began the rituals he used to relax, clear his mind of all the worries and distractions. It was more challenging than expected when he got to thoughts of Jared, but Jensen managed it.

One thing the cleansing ritual was good for was stress relief. Even if Jensen hasn't been sleeping well, he'd feel well rested after almost an hour in a bath.

Slowly, without any abrupt moves that would disturb the general calm atmosphere of his apartment, Jensen dried himself and moved to the living room.

He sat in the center of the room, a city map in front of him. He knew that couldn't use sand, like he had when he was tracking magic signatures. Jessica didn't have a magic signature and he needed some chronological order to his findings to know where she had been last.

It was the reason why he decided to use the candles. He set up one of them on the map, where Jessica's apartment was located and closed his eyes. He turned his focus inward and concentrated on finding Jessica. When he had gathered enough magic, he opened his eyes and watched the candle burst into flames. The warm orange of the flame was tinted with dark green and Jensen knew that it had worked.

He watched the smoke gather above the map, carefully noting its path as it traveled to the left, towards the University. Jensen watched the smoke trail lead to the NYU library, then back to the apartment. Something at the back of Jensen's mind, that part that understood magic on an almost unconscious level, told him that he was watching Jessica's routine from a week before her disappearance. He couldn't explain how he knew that, or how on earth did he manage to cast a spell so powerful, but it didn't change what he was seeing.

Jessica had the usual routine of a student, mornings at the university, afternoons at the library and the apartment and evenings... Jensen's blood went cold. Jessica spent time at Salem, a known hang out spot for supernatural community. A club owned by Jeffrey Morgan, the New York City version of Chicago’s Al Capone, who not only was in charge of every crime venue in the city, but also appeared to be attempting to extend his influence into the supernatural community as well.

Still, Jensen told himself, frequenting the place didn't have to mean anything. After all, Jensen went there too.

He tried to come up with reasons for a nice, normal college student to frequent a place like Salem. The smoke trace stopped and started to gather above Salem's location. When Jensen tried to nudge it to show him Jessica's steps after she visited the club, the flame simply went out.

Jensen got a cold feeling in his stomach telling him that Jessica had never left the club. All traces of her ended there, either she was still in the club, alive, or she had died in Salem.

Gathering more power, he tried to force the magical smoke to show him more, but the smoke thinned out and disappeared, as there were no more traces of Jessica for it to find.

~*~

A location gave him the beginning of a plan. He sat back on his heels and thought, then reached for his phone. Jensen had no desire to have a replay of the last time Kane read him the riot act when he hadn’t passed on information in what Kane thought was a timely fashion. He dutifully texted him everything he had found out.

After his duty to the SI was completed, he cleaned up the candles (fire hazard, and he already had enough troubles with his landlady) and dressed in something that would fit the club. Or at least something that wouldn't stand out too much. He wasn't much of a clubbing sort of person. Obviously.

It was dark outside when he got in his car and drove towards Salem. Technically, the club was open from 4pm till dawn, but nothing ever happened there before dusk. It was as if the supernatural community avoided sun, even the creatures it didn’t affect. Jensen himself did most of his business after dark. Maybe, because it was easier to disguise one's true colors when some of it could be hidden in the shadows...

He arrived to his destination quickly, but spent almost as much time as the trip itself looking for a parking spot. There was something reassuring in knowing that the world could end, he could die at any moment, but New York City would still make it impossible to park a car a reasonable distance from where you wanted to go. Or, maybe it was just Jensen trying to look at the bright side of life, because otherwise he'd go crazy and switch to the subway.

He walked to the club entrance and nodded to the bouncer, a huge guy that probably had some troll blood in him. The bouncer nodded back and watched Jensen expectantly.

There was only one way to get into Salem, you had to prove you belonged there. It begged the question of how exactly Jessica got in. Was she a magic user? Was she coming here with somebody who was? Jensen didn't know how those without magic, but still with supernatural origin proved to the bouncer they weren't vanilla mortals, or even whether or not there was a way those without magic could get in. For Jensen it was a simple thing, releasing a tiny bit of magic to manifest on the door.

Like so many times before, he did just that. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and when he opened them; his magical signature glowed on the door. The lighting must have been a bit different than usual, because instead of a bright green rune, his signature was darker, as if tainted.

Jensen didn't give it much thought, he had more important things on his mind.

The bar patrons who were already inside were regulars - Jensen had seen them there before, in those exact spots - and nothing about them caught Jensen's attention outside of noting their location and what kind and how much of a threat they could pose.

After looking around the bar, he decided that the best strategy would be to sit down in a corner and pay attention to who was coming in and out. If he could manage to get a good look at the VIP section, it would be a bonus. He was sure he wouldn’t get anything from the bartender, especially since he wasn't what probably passed as a regular himself, but he was determined to at least try.

He had almost reached one of the booths in the back, when he felt somebody coming up behind him and that same somebody's hands set firmly on his hips. He tensed and concentrated on the energy inside him in case he needed to defend himself. It was as natural as breathing, a completely unconscious reaction, and the first magical defense he had ever learned to control.

His next reaction, however, was something unexpected. The moment he heard the voice next to his ear, he relaxed.

"Tell me you'll be trying to read the auras of the patrons," he could hear a smile in Jared's voice. "I really enjoyed distracting you the last time you tried."

Despite himself, Jensen shivered. He could remember Jared's hand ghosting against his arm that night. He could almost feel the tip of Jared's tongue licking the skin behind his ear. He managed to stop himself from gasping, he couldn't tell if the sensation was because Jared had actually licked him, or if it was the still-vivid memory of the night he’d met Jared, a month ago.

Before he could get himself under control, he felt Jared bite his earlobe, making his heart beat faster.

"Go out with me," Jared whispered. "Pretty please..."

Instead of answering, and he was really tempted to say yes, Jensen turned around, breaking the contact.

"What are you doing here?" Jensen asked, perhaps sharper than absolutely necessary.

Jared looked away and an emotion that Jensen couldn't name passed across his face. He shrugged.

"Family business," he said casually, as if it explained everything.

For a brief moment Jensen wanted to ask for details, but he figured that White Court business would never be something he wanted to know about in detail.

"And what about you? What are _you_ doing here?" Jared asked with a smirk, as if happy to turn the tables around.

Jensen entertained the thought of not telling Jared anything, but since the other man would hear everything he’d discovered the next day from Kane, keeping anything pertaining to the case from him was pointless.

"Jessica, our victim's roommate, the girl I was supposed to find, was here before she disappeared," he said and took a step closer to Jared. The close proximity allowed him to lower his voice and limit the chances of anyone overhearing the conversation. "And by that I really do mean 'disappeared'. There's no trace of her leaving Salem that I could find. Even if she died here, her body still has to be here, or I would pick up some sort of energy leaving the premises. And there's nothing."

"Okay..." Jared nodded, taking the information in. "Though, for some reason, I have a problem with you going anywhere on your own, without letting me know. Or Kane, I'm not picky as long as there's somebody to watch your back when an assassin pops out. They have a tendency to do that around you."

He said it lightly, as if he was teasing, but Jensen knew Jared meant it. Trouble did seem to follow him everywhere he went, no matter how careful he was.

Truth be told, Jensen wasn't very careful most of the time, valuing results more than precautions.

Jared put his hand on his shoulder, pushing him gently towards the nearest booth, and Jensen started to protest.

"This conversation isn't over and we're starting to gather attention," he said quietly. It stopped any argument and Jensen slid into the booth, making room for Jared, who followed.

Jared sat close enough for their thighs to touch, and Jensen should probably think about what a bad idea that was. But he didn't. He didn't care at all, and he did his best to concentrate on the conversation.

"Do you think this is something more than just a feeding gone bad? I really don't want to hear the answers," Jared started, "especially if they're positive, but I feel like I have to ask. Do you think that the Red Court is behind Jessica's disappearance and that they killed her roommate because she was asking too many questions? Do you think Morgan's involved in this as well?"

Jared seemed truly concerned about that prospect, maybe even slightly overwhelmed. Jensen shared both of those emotions. The idea that this was part of something larger than a simple murder (and since when had murder become the easier option?), something Morgan was mixed up in terrified him. After all, he had barely managed to escape with his life the last time.

He shrugged at Jared in response. "I'm not sure, Jay. I don't like it, but it's a valid lead we can't really ignore. Because frankly? We don't have any others," he said and hoped that the helpless resignation he was feeling hadn't showed in his voice.

Jared grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck, staring at a spot above Jensen's shoulder, obviously making up his mind about something. Jensen didn't have the chance to ask him what it was that Jared was considering so carefully, because after a moment Jared focused on Jensen again.

"Okay, I need you to go home," he said firmly, as if the decision was already made. Jensen just rolled his eyes.

"Did you forget already? I'm here to investigate a lead? The only one we have so far?"

"I'll check it out instead..."

"No!" Jensen interrupted. It might have been a bit louder than he wanted. It got his a few curious glances that made his flush. It also made Jared move closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Jensen saw him raise his hand, as if to touch him, but the gesture was aborted before it could become too obvious. It looked as if Jared was trying to control an impulsive gesture.

Instead, Jared looked at Jensen with wide, pleading eyes.

"Come on, let me look into this. I have a better chance of finding any information. No one will bat an eye at me asking questions about the Red Court’s business, they won't even be surprised..." Jensen felt his resolve weakening. "Plus," Jared continued. "I'm really hard to kill, and they can't feed on me, unlike certain wizards we know..."

"I could tag along?" Jensen suggested.

"Jen, I'll be asking around in the White Court. You can't come with me," Jared said firmly.

"Why?" Jensen really wanted to know.

Jared's frustration showed on his face. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed heavily. Then he purposefully touched Jensen's forearm and looked deep into Jensen's eyes. The sudden _need_ pooling in his groin made Jensen lose focus for a moment; he didn't even care that Jared's eyes had turned silver.

It took Jensen a moment to pull himself together, and another few seconds before he was able to move away, despite Jared's hand on his skin. He wanted to act on his impulse, to jump Jared's bones right there and then, not giving a damn about where they were, or who was around. He had to shake his head to clear his mind.

"Jared, stop it," he warned the vampire and Jared's eyes immediately went back to their usual brown.

"I will," he said, putting one hand on Jensen's jaw, while the other one caressed Jensen's neck. This time the gesture was void of Jared's vampiric powers. The contact seemed to give Jared some sort of comfort since the conversation was clearly not going the way he first intended it to.

"As soon as you understand something. You have this... This fascinating ability to somehow resist my White Court charm. But what you have to understand... What _I_ need you to understand is that while you can resist me, you might not be able to resist my family."

 _There was something raw in Jared's expression. Something that made Jensen wrap his hands around Jared's wrists and let his thumbs rub the gentle skin in soothing circles._

 _"Or worse," Jared continued, leaning towards Jensen. "You might be able to resist them and they might find you _fascinating_. And can we just concentrate on how much you don't want that to happen? I can't even think about it without going crazy... They would break you, Jen. They would strip away everything that makes you Jensen. They would strip away your soul and then strip away your life. And I just-- I can't just--" Jared's voice was slowly turning into a whisper, becoming more and more desperate._

With wide eyes, Jensen watched this entirely new side of Jared. Not the silly cop who treated his job as a hobby. Not the man who made everything into a sexual innuendo. Not even the calculating vampire, Jensen caught a glimpse of a few times.

This was a man on the edge of breaking, facing a possibility so terrifying he could barely talk about it. Seeing that made something inside Jensen shudder.

He pulled Jared closer, resting his forehead against Jared's.

"Shhh," he said soothingly. "It's not going to happen."

It seemed to be helping.

"I can't, Jen... I can have you not wanting me. I can have you suspect me of all the worst things. I could probably handle you hating me. But I can't-- I can't let them do that to you." He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "For some reason I find it difficult to cope with the idea of something bad happening to you."

Jared tightened his grip on Jensen's neck, as if afraid Jensen would disappear.

Seeing Jared like that, open and vulnerable, with his vampire nature tucked away so deep it might've as well not be there at all... It made Jensen realize that even though he questioned the source of his own feelings towards Jared almost every day, in the end it didn't matter, he couldn't see Jared in the state he was in and do nothing.

"I'll go home," he whispered, pulling away from Jared. "You handle this; but I swear, Jared, if you don't keep me in the loop, I will make your life a living hell."

Jared smiled, relieved.

"You mean more than usual?"

~*~

On his way to the car, Jensen realized how draining his brief stay at Salem had been. Maybe Jared's approach to life was actually better? Just joke around and try not to show any deep, meaningful connection to others. Apparently when you did that it sucked the life out of you, no pun intended.

He found his parking spot, got into his car and drove home almost on autopilot. He made a conscious effort to not think about what just happened, not to analyze it or wonder what it all meant.

He paid extra attention to the road, other cars and traffic in general - a poster boy for good driving, Kane would be so proud...

When he finally reached his apartment building, he didn't get out of the car immediately. He sat there staring at his hands on the steering wheel. There was nothing he could do about... stuff. Anyway, he had a case to concentrate on.

He took a deep breath, as if to steel himself against life in general and a certain White Court vampire in particular, and got out of the car, only to be slammed brutally against the door.

A shocked gasp was knocked out of him along with the air in his lungs. With little effort, he raised his shields instinctively and swung his elbow back, allowing the momentum of the swing to turn him around.

He was ready for people behind him, maybe a pair of muggers, idiots who thought Jensen might make an easy target. Mortals, unaware of his gifts. What he actually saw shocked him.

"Red Court..." his whisper stuck between a question and a terrified statement.

The last time he faced a Red Court vampire flashed before his eyes. He barely escaped alive then, only surviving because he was in possession on a powerful amulet (one he stole from the Court in the first place, but who was keeping score?), and because Jared was there to drag him out of the burning apartment.

This time, there was no Jared to help him. He was emotionally exhausted, which would probably affect his magic.

The amulet that helped him last time was safely tucked in a wooden box, hidden beneath the floor in his bedroom.

Not to mention, there were four of them and only one of him.

As he ran through the possible defenses that wouldn't destroy his apartment building, the vampires circled around him, preparing for an attack of their own.

"You should've known better than to stick your nose where it didn't belong, wizard," one of them hissed.

Ah, thought Jensen, that question answered, it wasn't random. The vampires had a problem with something he had done, was doing, most likely his investigation into missing Jessica and dead Tara. Now they were here to fix the problem, and he was it.

Jensen bit back the impulse to banter, his life was on the line, after all. He threw pure kinetic force at the two in front of them and snapped his shields up, so the other two wouldn’t be able to hurt him.

The shield flickered as they grabbed at him, stopping them for just a moment before it disappeared completely, much to Jensen’s dismay, leaving him unprotected.

He didn't even have the time to wonder why his power disappeared like that, when one of the vampires grabbed him. He struggled to get free, but the hold the vampire had on him was too strong. The iron grip on his arms kept him in place, leaving him unable even to reach for the wooden stake he carried in the inner pocket of his coat as a last resort.

He blinked and next thing he knew, he faced a vampire, who was watching him hungrily.

"Never had a wizard before," it sneered.

It. Jensen couldn't think of this vampire as a person. Even though it was wearing a human face, a face maybe as beautiful as Jared's, Jensen could see underneath the beauty, could see the monster beneath. It was shifting and trying to get out, desperate for even a drop of Jensen's blood.

He started to struggle even more, unwilling to become dinner, or worse. He couldn’t help remembering Tyra’s lifeless body lying on the floor in her apartment. The only thoughts in his head were 'no, no, no', repeated over and over again. He couldn't get free, the other vampire holding him firmly, laughing like keeping him immobilized was the funniest thing ever. He couldn't reach for any weapon that he could defend himself. The panic he felt was starting to overpower all his senses.

The vampire in front of him moved so fast, Jensen barely registered the movement until there was another set of hands on him, fingers digging into his body almost crushing his bones, fingernails drawing blood even though there were layers of clothes protecting the skin.

And the pain. It started radiating from his neck in every possible direction. And then more pain when the second vampire took a bite. He could feel the blood, his blood, drip slowly down his back and front, making his shirt cling to his body in places.

The logical part of his mind told him it was because one of the vampires had bitten into the artery and the blood flow was too rich for it to drink it all.

But that thought disappeared in the single most important thought that took over.

No. He was not going to end like this.

No. He wasn’t going to die.

He had survived all those years, beaten several warlocks, monsters from the Underworld and Faerie Queens.

No. He was not going to die because a bunch of Red Court vamps decided he was in the way.

He closed his eyes forcing his mind to divorce itself from the pain, to work around it. Putting it aside enough to be able to think. With one hand he grabbed the arm of the vampire in front of him. He reached behind with the other hand, digging his fingers into the other vampire's thigh.

Instead of trying to push them away, he pulled them closer. He could feel his blood, pumping through his veins, leaving his body.

He concentrated on his heartbeat, running at a crazy pace, but regular enough to provide him with an anchor.

Underneath it all, he could feel his power, pulsing with hot, angry desperation. He took a breath, as deep as he could and grabbed onto that power, feeling it burn. He whispered the incantation, calling for fire with as much conviction as if he was literally raising hell.

He didn't stop the incantation even when he felt the heat travel down his arms, pooling underneath his hands. The pain he had shunted aside shifted and he heard screams, which just made him hold onto the vampires even harder.

He opened his eyes when he felt flames licking his cheek, suddenly aware of the heat around him. He released the burning bodies, the remains, and watched them crumble onto the ground.

He looked down at his hands, saw the red, angry flames surrounding his palms lick their way up his arms.

At that moment, he felt powerful, invincible.

With a sharp move of his head, he looked toward the other two vampires who were still trying to pick themselves up from his earlier kinetic blow.

He saw their eyes widen as they noticed his attention was on them again. He could feel the fear as they glanced at what was left of their friends.

Lips stretched into a vicious grin, he watched them scramble and run. He was half tempted to pursue them, a dark voice in the back of his mind telling him it would teach them a good lesson to never mess with Jensen again.

Before he could, the power vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving him drained and exhausted. The pain returned on its heels, making him sway.

He started to stumble towards the building, towards the safety of his apartment. He had to support himself on the wall, vaguely aware he was leaving smudges of soot and blood on the walls in the hallway.

The closer he got to his door, the more difficult it was to take another step. He worried he wouldn't be able to make it inside and he breathed a sigh of relief when he finally closed the door behind him.

With the last of his strength, he cast protective wards around his apartment. He got dizzy and lost his balance, hitting the floor.

He whispered a healing spell, but the darkness swallowed him as soon as the last word left his mouth.

~*~

His head hurt. It wasn't much of a surprise, he usually felt like he had the worst hangover in history after overdoing it with magic.

This time, though, it wasn’t only his head that hurt like hell, the rest of his body was screaming with pain as well. It wasn't the dull, throbbing pain he was so used to. It was sharp, and it was flared up over and over again, as if somebody was poking at open wounds.

Jensen groaned and tried to move. The floor underneath him gave a little and he realized he wasn't lying on the floor anymore. It took some effort, but he managed to open his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Kane.

Startled, he tried to move away, but Chris' strong hands held him in place.

"Don't move, you idiot. I'm trying to patch you up," he said and Jensen could tell his friend was angry. "I swear, if I wasn't worried about internal damage, I'd beat the shit out of you."

"Red Court got their beating in first," Jensen tried to joke, but it only made Chris grip him more tightly. He pulled on the bandage he was wrapping around Jensen's hand harder, making Jensen grimace at the sudden pain. Bastard.

He almost said it out loud, but something in Kane's expression told him it wouldn't be a good idea.

"Sorry," he said instead. Chris muttered something Jensen couldn't make out and finished bandaging his hand before moving to the other one.

He was surprised to discovered that his hand (and he assumed the other one as well) was burned. The skin was red and he could see blisters all over it. Jensen remembered the flames, and had to be grateful he wasn’t seeing burnt bones.

Despite his anger, Chris was gentle when he started to wrap the bandage around Jensen’s palm, and Jensen really appreciated it.

"How did you..." he started to ask, but didn't know how to ask the question he really wanted to have answered.

Kane stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked up to meet Jensen's gaze.

"I got an anonymous phone call," he said. "Somebody called _my house_ and told Steve there was something weird going on at your place. That they heard screams and saw something burning and that I should check it out. Steve insisted he come along," he explained nodding towards Jensen's kitchen.

Only then, Jensen realized that Steve was in his apartment as well. Not only that, Steve was in Jensen's kitchen, or something that would be Jensen's kitchen if he cared to clean up and do the dishes...

Jensen was exhausted, but he still felt embarrassed about Steve seeing the condition of his kitchen. Steve deserved better, Jensen was a slob, ate to live, but Steve was a genius in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Chris was still talking. "We got here and saw the remains of your attempt at barbeque in the street, then followed the blood trail to your apartment. Your landlady is going to tear you a new one for what you did to the walls, by the way. Blood doesn't go very well with the beige, or so I'm told. It's a bitch to get out, too."

Jensen managed to smile at that.

"It’s a damned good thing I made you give me a key after the last time. When you’re better, I'll beat the crap out of you for all the trauma you caused," he finished just as he was making final adjustments on the bandage.

"I wasn't exactly planning on--"

"I thought you were fucking _dead_ , Jensen!" Chris interrupted him loudly. Out of the corner of his eye Jensen saw Steve raise his head and slowly move towards them. "You were just fucking lying there, barely breathing, blood everywhere. If some anonymous asshole wasn't bored enough to call me, you'd probably have bled to death because you didn't even try dialing 911."

"Hey," Steve's soft voice made them both jump, he was standing just behind Chris

Jensen watched as Steve gently rubbed Chris' shoulder and ignored the little pang of envy at the intimacy, something he yearned for in his own life.

"Why don't you go get some air," Steve suggested and for a brief moment Chris looked like he was going to argue, but he stood up and leaned into Steve, allowing the other man to kiss him before he left the apartment.

Jensen watched Chris go, then looked at Steve with awe.

"I still have no idea how you do it."

Steve smiled in response and sat on the edge of the couch. Jensen tried to make room for him, but every movement hurt, so he gave up.

He had a feeling that Steve wanted to say something, so he remained quiet, watching Steve as he gazed at the mug he held in his hands.

"The call wasn't anonymous. It was Jared. He couldn't get through your wards and he called me because he was worried something bad happened to you. I told Chris it was anonymous, because I wanted to protect Jared's... identity," he said, turning to look at Jensen.

"How--?" Jensen frowned unable to wrap his mind around what he was hearing.

"Christian's not an expert on magic, but even he would ask why his human rookie couldn't get through wards designed to keep out the supernatural," Steve pointed out.

"No," Jensen shook his head. "How do you know about Jared?"

Steve looked away, as if trying to think of an answer to give Jensen.

"I like Chris relatively undamaged," he said finally. "So I try to know who's watching his back when he's busy chasing criminals, or monsters... or both."

Jensen looked at Steve in a completely new light, like he was seeing the other man for the first time ever. He had never wondered about Steve, the man was just there, since forever. Fixed, unmovable, a solid source of comfort and normalcy. Someone Kane always turned to when work at SI was too much. Someone Chris didn't talk to about his day, Steve was supposed to be untouched by the morbid cases they both handled.

Or so Jensen thought. Because, Steve knew a lot more than Jensen suspected and wasn't so clueless.

Before he could muster any kind of response to what Steve said, the other man handed his the mug.

"Drink this. It should help you feel better."

He frowned and looked down at the mug. It didn’t smell very appealing. He opened his mouth to ask what it was, but words failed him again.

Thankfully, Steve seemed to know what was on Jensen's mind.

"It's a Chinese herbal tea. It's soothing and it'll help you with blood cells production. You could really use that right now," he added pointedly.

With a last doubtful look, Jensen took a few sips and grimaced. It tasted just as awful as it smelled, but Jensen bravely emptied half of the mug before giving it back to Steve.

"Good, it should be enough. Now lie back down," Steve said and pushed Jensen gently towards the pillow.

Jensen wanted to answer, wanted to ask Steve what he thought he was doing, but the tea made him feel warm and sluggish. His eyelid got heavy and then he realized.

It wasn't tea. It was a potion.

 _Magic._

~*~

When Jensen woke up again, he felt much better. It was true that anything would have counted as an improvement as long as there was no more acute pain, but over the years Jensen had become an expert in recognizing different levels of pain. He could really appreciate that what he was actually feeling was only a dull echo of the agonizing pain he experienced not so long ago.

He managed to sit up on the couch, which was a huge improvement. It looked like he was no longer in danger of immediate death. He had to wonder if the "tea" Steve served him was responsible for this improvement or if he had slept long enough for his magic to allow his body to regenerate.

He looked around, trying to see if Chris and Steve were still in his apartment. The place was quiet and seemed to be completely empty. The only evidence that anybody had been there was the clean kitchen - and Jensen thought it made the area look like it didn't belong to the rest of the flat.

He stood up, slowly, aware of the fact that he was light-headed and needed to be careful because of all the blood loss. He walked to the kitchen, hoping to get some food in himself. It was probably asking too much to expect that Steve had left some of his awesome chili, but he couldn’t help but hope. And he couldn't help but to be disappointed when all he found was a note with Kane's handwriting.

 _If you feel like it, get your ass to the precinct. If you remember, we have a case. Kane_

Jensen smiled at the note, but the smile quickly faded because even though he felt much better, he was still not in any position to go back into the "field". He was afraid even a small spell would deplete what was left of his energy reserves.

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his bandaged hand. Kane needed him, he knew that much. Chris needed backup that could help with the supernatural. It was something Jared couldn't do without exposing his true self. So Jensen was it, he had to get his game back, or Kane would be facing those Red Court bastards on his own.

Jensen leaned against the kitchen counter, planting his hands firmly on the wooden surface. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the warm light inside him, the image he always associated with his magical energy, the batteries his magic was running on.

He wasn't surprised to realize that the light was dim, barely there. He knew what that meant. His batteries were running low and he wouldn't survive another battle with the Red Court if it came to that. That fire he’d called was a Hail Mary and it wouldn't happen again anytime soon.

He opened his eyes and started to tap his fingers on the counter, getting more and more frustrated with the situation. He didn't like not being able to help. He considered Chris his friend, you were supposed to help your friends. Plus, New York was his city, he’d be damned if he let the vampires run it.

There was only one way he could be useful. He had to recharge his energy, and he really needed to heal his hands. He couldn't do any magic with his hands covered in bandages.

He couldn't draw on his own reserves, they were too depleted, it was too risky. He had to get the power from the outside; probably even more risky.

It would, of course, be too much to ask for his life to be easy just this once.

He sighed heavily. It wasn't really a choice, he told himself.

He pushed himself away from the counter. He needed space to meditate, so he went back to the living room. He sat on the carpet, in the spot he often used for rituals.

Slowly, he started to undo the bandages on his hands, making sure that the action wasn't interrupting his attempts at clearing his mind. He knew he had to open himself to the outside world, the outside energies; something he hadn't done very often.

He started to breathe deeply, closing his eyes to keep the vision of the real world from influencing his perception of the energy sources surrounding him. After few more breaths, he could feel the magic around him, the clots of energy pulsing with power, inviting him to tap into them.

He ignored the energies closest to him, weak enough that he knew they were his own, his body and life force. Further to the right, he felt something he could only describe as dusty - he figured it was the residual energy gathered around his magic texts. He didn't dare to reach up or down in search of the energy he could harvest, too afraid he would encounter spirits he wasn't ready to face.

Fortunately he sensed an open energy source, pulsating with a warm, primal power. He hesitated for a moment, it was usually difficult to tap into primal sources without a prior link to it, but Jensen figured that beggars couldn't be choosers, and so he reached toward the energy, touching it gently with his mind.

He felt a kick immediately, as the power started to flow into him. The exhaustion disappeared, as he tapped the new power and pushed it towards his hands, into the skin, allowing the pure energy to heal his wounds and damage inflicted by the fire. As an afterthought, he made sure to heal the wounds on his neck and bruises on his arms.

He took a deep, satisfied breath. He hadn't felt that good in years.

Even though he didn't want to, he released his connection to the power, rebuilding the mental shields he kept around his mind. When he opened his eyes, he was a new man.

He smiled and licked his lips, tasting copper. He raised his newly healed hand and touched his lips, wiping the moisture off of it. When he looked at his fingers he saw blood. He had probably bitten his lip in concentration, he thought.

Without further examination, he stood up and stretched. He was rested, ready to face the world and the evil lurking in the shadows. That meant he was ready to go to the precinct and talk to Kane and Jared regarding the leads they gathered so far.

~*~

He was surprised to discover that the atmosphere at the precinct didn’t feel heavy with pain and anger, as it usually was. Maybe his mental shields were tighter, protecting him better from the emotional residue around. He decided he liked being unaffected like that.

Quickly making his way to the floor occupied by the Special Investigations Unit, he went directly to Kane’s desk. When Kane noticed him, his only reaction was a raised eyebrow.

"I got your note," Jensen said.

Chris leaned deeper into the chair he was sitting in. "I wasn't actually expecting you anytime this week. You... didn't look that good."

Jensen shrugged and sat in his usual spot. "I recharged the batteries, cast a few healing spells. Good as new," he said and showed Chris his hands, his skin still slightly reddened, but otherwise undamaged. "I'm harder to kill than that, you know?"

Kane’s expression told Jensen exactly what he thought of Jensen’s survival skills, or rather, their lack. He chose to ignore it and just go on with the conversation; Chris was probably just mad because he had to bring Steve when the call came in.

There was something about Steve that Jensen knew he should remember, but he couldn't recall what it was. He'd have to ask the man himself. What happened right before he passed out was a lot fuzzy.

"Did you manage to find something, while I was out?" He asked, to get his mind back on the case.

"Oh yeah," Kane said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Tons. None of it is worth anything to us," he threw the folder he was holding on the desk for a good measure.

Jensen had hoped for something more, but he had to accept the reality. They didn't have much to go on.

As he was trying to figure out what they were missing, they were joined by Jared, who walked in and handed Chris yet another folder. Jensen looked up and met Jared's gaze. He saw that same emotion he witnessed in Salem, but now he was able to place it somehow. There was worry, of that much Jensen was sure.

Even though he walked around the desk, and talked to Chris, his eyes hadn't left Jensen even for a moment.

"You were right. I found a connection between Morgan and Dobrev. You remember Ms Dobrev, right Jen?"

Jensen nodded. He remembered Dobrev, as well as he remembered Paul Wesley. The two Red Court vampires had worked together. They were the pair SI had gone after not month ago, when they were trying to locate a powerful amulet based in blood magic - the one that was safely tucked away in Jensen's bedroom right now.

The last time they tried to confront Dobrev, both Jensen and Kane landed in the hospital with extensive injuries.

"I still have the souvenir," Jensen replied, meaning both the memories of the pain and the amulet they took.

"Not really your type of trinket," Jared said lightly and finally looked away, turning his attention to Kane, who was reading through the files he had just been handed.

"So they really are doing business together... Well, fuck," Kane summed up their situation. He looked at Jared. "Do you remember the case Welling handled right after I got back from medical leave?"

"The dead hookers?" Jared asked with a frown while he leaned forward and passed a note to Jensen.

Jensen stared at it for a second, missing the conversation between the two other man.

Passing notes. He suddenly felt like he was back in grade school.

He unfolded the note and there, on top of the page was a sentence he couldn't believe Jared had written. It really was like grade school.

 _Do you like me? Check yes or no_

Followed by two squares. And a smiley face next to "YES".

It was too unbelievable for Jensen to even try to roll his eyes. He was about to kick Jared in the ankle next to his foot, there wasn’t anything he could say in front of Kane, after all, when he noticed much smaller writing, something he had at first dismissed as pointless doodling.

What it was, in fact, was a brief summary of what Jared had discovered the previous night, after Jensen left Salem. It was a good thing he had left, apparently Jared's "family" was unhappy with the developments in the supernatural community.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said, though his tone was anything but apologetic, "but what are we going to do about the even bigger problem?" he asked, folding the note Jared gave him and putting it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

Both Chris and Jared turned to him. Jared's face was a perfect blank mask, and it was obvious Chris had no idea what Jensen was talking about.

"You mean bigger than the Red Court teaming up with the biggest crime lord this city has seen since Organized Crime cleaned up the Russians?" Kane asked pleasantly, and Jensen would have been very wary of his tone, any other time, thinking he was in trouble.

"What are you talking about Jen? Did you find out something on your recon yesterday?" Jay asked pointedly.

Of course it wasn’t as if Jared could just tell Chris what he learned from his contacts in the supernatural community. The part he was playing, Jared, the rookie cop, wasn't supposed to have any.

For a moment, Jensen entertained the thought of withholding the information Jared had given him, wondering if it would force the vampire to reveal his true nature to Chris. He reconsidered. That would have to wait until they didn't have a pressing, dangerous issues to address.

"Yeah. I..." he hesitated, trying to phrase what he wanted to say, without outright lying. "I would have told you sooner, but..." he shrugged. It wasn’t a lie if he didn’t say the entire truth, right?

"There's a rumor saying that the Red Court is teaming up with somebody big. Nobody likes that idea, it has serious potential of upsetting the balance. We all know that the supernatural community is all about balance, unless the imbalance is in your favor."

Kane shook his head. "Weren't you listening? We already established Dobrev and Morgan are in bed, so to speak."

"Would the supernatural creatures consider Morgan a big bad?" Jared asked softly, pushing the conversation towards the right conclusion. Jensen accepted the help without comment.

"Exactly. We consider Morgan a big fish, but he's still a pretty vanilla mortal. I mean, as far as that community is concerned even I'm a bigger fish than Morgan. It's widely known 'a wizard' is meddling in Red Court business. Which would probably explain yesterday's attack..."

Kane caught on quickly. There was a reason why he had risen so quickly in the police ranks. Once he was given enough information, he could do a Sherlock on anyone.

"So. If it’s not Morgan, it means there's a third party," he said. "That usually means we're screwed."

Kane shook his head. "Once. Just once, I wish we had a piece of cake case I could open, shut and use to negotiate a raise."

They just sat there for a moment, analyzing yet another shitty situation they had found themselves in, and then, Chris stood up.

"Okay, boys. Don't have time to worry. I'm going to visit the guys in Organized Crime, ask them about the hookers’ case and whatever they have on Morgan. Maybe they’ll have something on Dobrev.” He snorted. “Jenny, you go and see what you can find out about that mysterious third party. Try not to get killed, I don't want to have to find a brand new consultant. And Paddywhack, walk the princess home. Make sure he doesn't get jumped again--"

"Hey!" Jensen protested. He was a badass. A wizard! And he could protect himself and he sure as hell didn't need a babysitter.

Kane just glared at him. "Jared is going to drive you home." The tone of his voice made Jensen shut up and swallow any complaints he might've had. This was the man who spent hours last night patching Jensen up while he was unconscious.

"Yeah, okay..."

~*~

The drive back to Jensen's place was silent. Jensen didn't know why, the usually chatty, Jared didn't try to start a conversation. He stayed silent himself, mostly because at first he was angry at the idea of being assigned a babysitter and he didn't want to take out his frustration on Jared, since it wasn't his fault Kane decided to be overprotective.

But when Jared finally parked in front of Jensen's building, he made no move to leave the car, even though he shut down the engine. Jensen stayed in the car as well, not sure what the was on Jared’s mind.

"Did you did it on purpose?" Jared finally asked.

The question made no sense to Jensen. "What do you mean?" Jensen asked with a frown.

"Last night... I came over after I finished talking to people. I wanted to talk to you, but I couldn't get through the wards. I thought that maybe after the last time, you put up stronger ones just to keep me away. I mean after all the stuff I said..." Jared shrugged not looking at him, but Jensen could tell it was just so that he could appear casual.

"Jay," he said to get Jared's attention. He waited until Jared turned his head and their eyes met. "The wards weren't designed to keep you outside. They weren't designed at all. I threw them up right before I passed out. I was lucky they even went up at all, I wasn't exactly conscious when I was casting them. I was on autopilot. I even physically locked the door, Kane had my key."

He watched as the information sank in. He could see the exact moment when Jared realized that because he allowed himself to reveal his feelings, what he probably considered a weakness in front of Jensen, it didn't mean Jensen would cast him out of his life.

The smile Jared sent him was almost blinding and Jensen found himself having trouble breathing. He couldn't help himself and smiled back, even if his smile was much more hesitant.

It didn't last too long though. In the back of his mind, he was aware of his surroundings and the fact that they were sitting in a parked car, for everyone to see was not very smart.

"Come on," he told Jared as he unfastened his seatbelt. "I need your help to adjust those wards. I don't think Kane will appreciate being called in the middle of the night every time you think something's wrong, because you can't get in."

He got out of the car and started for his apartment. He didn't look back, but he knew Jared was following him. He stopped in front of his door, eyes glancing briefly at the reddish brown stains on the wall. He could feel Jared's body heat against his back.

He liked that feeling.

Jensen opened the door and walked in. When he turned around saw Jared still standing in the hall, looking at the threshold like it personally offended him. Jensen reached for Jared, concentrating on the wards as his hand passed through them.

"Give me your hand," he said and Jared obeyed instantly, without asking any questions.

Once he touched Jared, he felt the spark that traveled between them. He had to struggle to keep his focus. He had to work with the wards, he couldn't just stop and rip Jared's clothes off of him instead, even though that was a really appealing idea.

Pushing all the filthy thoughts away, he concentrated on Jared's aura, the silver glow he saw wrapped around Jared. He allowed the aura flow into him, through the fingers that touched Jared's warm skin, and travel up his arm, disappearing into the wards.

He watched the wards alter themselves, rearrange around the new energy that was introduced to them. Once they settled again, Jensen pulled Jared in without any additional words.

Jared hesitated for a second, but when he stepped over the threshold, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Jen, what did you do?" he asked moving closer to Jensen, touching his jaw, rubbing his thumb against Jensen's cheek.

"I..." Jensen hesitated. "I might've given you something of an all-access pass," he said and flushed, embarrassed by his action. Jensen really didn't want to analyze it too much. The only reason for giving Jared so much access was that it felt like the right thing to do.

Something crossed Jared's face, but Jensen was too distracted to wonder what it was. All he could do was think how he could feel Jared's fingertips travel up his arm, the ghost of a touch that left his skin burning.

Jared took another step closer and Jensen's hands rose all on their own to grab onto Jared's shirt, preventing him from moving away if he suddenly changed his mind.

He could feel Jared's breath on his lips, so close it was almost torture. The atmosphere around them was heavy with lust and in another time and place Jensen would probably wonder when that happened.

"Don't say no to me, Jen, _please_ ," Jared begged and Jensen did the only thing he could think of.

He reached up and pulled Jared into a kiss. It felt as if somebody had broken the cage Jensen was trapped in and he was free for the first time in his life. All the hesitation was gone. Jared was his and Jensen was ready to give the man anything he asked for.

He moaned with desire when Jared's hands found their way under his shirt.

He didn't register that they were moving until his back hit the wall. The sudden pain cleared his head a little, even though Jared was doing his best to keep him distracted, the way he moved to lick his throat.

There was a nagging thought at the back of Jensen's head that said it was wrong, that what he was feeling right now wasn't real, but a side effect of Jared's vampiric powers. At that moment, it didn't really matter to him.

He wanted to touch and taste, and he wanted Jared to touch him all over. Judging by the urgency of Jared's kisses, his soon-to-be lover felt the same.

"We can't," he tried. "This isn't even real, Jared, you can't... feed on me," he tried reason, but it didn't work on Jared, and he didn’t say it with any conviction, he wanted to rip Jared's clothes off and lick him all over, even if it was going to be the last thing he did in his life.

"Can't stop," Jared whispered, kissing Jensen again. "Been waiting to do this for so long. God, Jen... If you could see yourself..." He pushed his hands higher under Jensen’s T-shirt, digging his fingers into Jensen's exposed back.

Jensen felt like his skin was on fire, burning under the touch of Jared's fingertips. He could feel energy all around him, not completely natural, but he couldn't bring himself to care, because Jared bit the skin on his shoulder and all Jensen could think about was thrusting his hips forward to get some friction against his painfully hard dick.

"Fuck... So responsive. So ready for me. I'm going to fuck you for hours Jen. I'm going to make your aura glow with that passionate red. All for me to take..."

Jensen wasn’t thinking straight, but the tiny part of his brain that could still think pushed the words out anyway.

"Green," he moaned and pulled Jared closer, wanting, no, _needing_ more.

Jared froze and then moved away, making Jensen whimper at the loss.

"What?"

"Green," Jensen said without even thinking, "my aura is green," he told Jared and leaned forward, intent on kissing those lips again. Jared pulled away, forcing Jensen to settle on kissing his neck, thrilled to discovered that Jared's skin tasted like every promise imaginable.

Jared's hands grabbed his shoulders and he found himself pushed firmly against the wall. It wouldn't be such a bad place to be if only Jared wasn't so far away.

"Jensen, concentrate," there was something in Jared's voice Jensen thought he could recognize, and he noticed that the intoxicating silver glow was missing from Jared's eyes. "I need you to concentrate Jen, please, do this for me," the words penetrated the fog surrounding Jensen's mind. "What color is your aura?"

"Green," he said without hesitation, he didn't have to concentrate to know this. "Why does it matter? Jay, _please_..." Once again, he tried to move closer, but Jared held him firmly in place.

"Jen. Your aura is red."

~*~

"Jensen calm down..." Jared's voice was calm and soothing, but it didn't help Jensen even in the slightest.

"Do not tell me to calm down Jared! You have no idea how fucking bad this is!" Jensen yelled at him and kept pacing.

This was bad, so bad... Words probably wouldn't be able to describe how bad that was. Not that he had words. Jared's presence wasn't helping either.

His mind was perfectly clear, he was in huge trouble, dire, horrible trouble, but Jared’s tempting presence made him want to forget that and go back to kissing him.

"Come on, Jen. It can't be that bad... I'm sure it happens all the time, I mean people's aura touch everything around, it's bound to influence the... colors or whatnot..." Jared tried, but he didn't sound convinced. He moved closer, maybe intending to comfort Jensen, but got a totally different reaction.

Jensen took a step back and looked sharply at Jared. "Don't. Get any closer," he said, his voice shook with anger and confusion. "For all I know it's your fault."

"Jen," Jared looked at him pleadingly. "You know I would never..."

"All I know is that just a few moments ago I was ready to let you feed on me, Jay. You really don't want to make me say what I'm thinking right now. So... So let's just focus on what auras are. They don't just change color all of a sudden. They are parts of your soul, the visual representation of the things that make you you. Yours is silver. Just like your eyes when you feed. Kane's is blue, with Steve's gold woven into it because of all the years they’ve spent together. _Years_ , Jared. It takes years for your aura to pick up slight residues. It doesn't happen overnight!"

For some reason, it calmed Jensen down a little; explaining the magical nature like that. It allowed him to concentrate on the practical approach, on all the information he already had on auras.

Unfortunately, talking about it made him realize how little he knew. He couldn't even begin to comprehend what could trigger a change so sudden and so drastic. Red wasn't close to green on the color spectrum, certainly not in the spectrum of magic users. The White Council would -– he put that thought _right_ out of his mind..

He looked down at his hands. Part of him wanted to gaze at his own aura. He didn't though, far too afraid of what he might see.

"Is there anything I can do?" Jared asked gently, pulling Jensen attention away from his hands.

"I don't know. I need to look into this, Jay. Find a way to reverse it. If my aura is different, it means something's wrong with me. It'll probably impact every single spell I cast. I need to fix this, or I won't be able to help you with the Red Court or even Morgan. I sure can’t do anything about us until this is sorted."

"I can tell Kane you're taking some time to fix this, or something, whatever you think I should tell him. Otherwise, he's probably going to call the moment he has anything on the case, much less something else he needs you to look at."

Jensen took a deep breath, pushing his worries aside, forcing himself to think about the problem at hand. Little steps. He could do this.

"You can't tell Chris. Think about it for a moment. If I tell him there's a problem he can't do anything about, he's not going to just let me go and let me fix it on my own." He pointed out. "He's taking on a crime boss, a bunch of vampires with an agenda we don’t know anything about, and who knows what else. He doesn't need more on his plate to distract him."

Jared looked away, clearly considering his options.

"Okay, then. I'll tell him you needed to rest after the attack. I’ll tell him that you miscalculated and the healing spells took too much out of you. I'll tell him you pretended to be a badass, and I got you to agree to rest for a day or two..."

Jensen glared at the wording, but he figured it would work on Kane, since it already sounded like something he would think himself. Finally, he nodded.

"Go back and help him with the case. This is big, and he's going to need somebody watching his back."

~*~

The problem with magic was that there weren't a lot of people qualified enough to help if you ran into a problem. Usually, when people had a magical problem, they came to Jensen. Which meant when Jensen ran into a problem he couldn't solve, the number of people he could turn to was almost non-existent, especially when it was something he could absolutely not let the White Council know.

When he didn't know enough, he tried researching. NYU's Library was surprisingly vast when it came to folklore, magic and an accurate history of rituals. Jensen never wanted to think too much about where they had gotten the books, or what they needed them for, much less what the students might be doing with the knowledge.

Unfortunately, his access to the library was limited to moments when his friend, Eliza, was on shift, since Jensen wasn't a student,. Of course, he hadn't had a true emergency in a month’s time, Eliza took the opportunity to take a long deserved vacation.

Just his luck.

With that resource out of the picture, there was only one place he could go... And that meant he had to stock up on books first. Erotic books.

If anyone ever told him that he would be paying mystical creatures in porn, he would've laughed.

Then he’d met Chad, a spirit of intellect that resided in Lower Manhattan.

Chad, like any other spirit of his kind (not that there were many of them), had been bound to an object, an old skull in his case, and forced to serve a magical master.

Unfortunately, or fortunately for Chad, his master was a warlock with numerous enemies. He once sent Chad to spy on one of his enemies, and managed to get killed by another one while Chad had been ‘out’. Chad found himself unbound and without a new master, since nobody had known about him and no one ever claimed him.

He’d hitched a ride on the first hot guy he ran across and, as they say, the rest was history.

That's what Jensen decided to remember, even though Chad had given him a much more detailed account, the basics were there. He had shared a lot of the adventures since he’d found his freedom with Jensen. It included far too many women, girls, boys, vampires, werewolves and a zombie or two, never mind the squelchy parts.

Chad claimed he was just catching up after centuries of being stuck in a skull.

Jensen thought Chad was weird and kind of a perv.

Unfortunately, he was a perv who knew A LOT about magic, and the supernatural world with a side of Victoria’s Secret models.

For some reason, he was willing to share that knowledge with Jensen (in return for books that the clerk in the adult book store shook his head over). It meant that Jensen was willing to overlook any and everything.

The day Chad decided he was bored and opened a honest-to-God magic shop in Lower Manhattan was the best day in a very long time. It meant that he was right there when Jensen needed him and all he needed was to go visit the shop. Maybe even pick up some ingredients while he was there. So when Jensen faced a problem he didn't know how to solve, he grabbed four filthiest paperbacks the guy at the bookstore could provide him with and headed to Mayhem, the shop Chad owned.

~*~

The moment he walked into Chad's shop, he started to have second thoughts. It didn't help very much that Chad looked up from the book he was reading with his feet propped up on the counter and closed his book without a word. His eyes glowed orange and he stood up.

"Seriously, Jenny, you perv. What have you been playing with?" He asked as he walked around the counter to finally stop in front of Jensen. He made a move as if he wanted to grab Jensen's arm, but he frowned and looked at Jensen carefully, in the end deciding to move away.

Jensen felt insulted, it wasn’t like what he had was contagious... At least he hoped it wasn't.

"I wasn't playing with anything," Jensen spread his arms in a slightly too desperate gesture for his liking. "It just.... Happened."

Chad's expression was quite clear and he didn't need to call Jensen an idiot for him to hear it.

"Those things don't _just happen_ , Jenny. It takes a lot of magic and powerful emotions to change one's aura like that. Were you working with blood?" Suddenly, Chad grinned widely. "Did you get laid? Good heavens, it was a virgin, wasn't it? I bet there were more than one virgin. I love virgin orgies. There's sex and blood and all those primal forces mixing and linking lives with each other. You dog," he laughed and almost punched Jensen in the arm.

Jensen just wished he had somewhere else to go.

"There weren’t any virgins, no orgies of any kind, Chad," he said and shook his head.

"Oh," Chad looked disappointed. "A blood witch then?" he asked hopefully. "A blood warlock, perhaps? You know, we're all equal opportunists here."

"Chad."

"A vampire? I'm telling you. The stamina is something to be envied..."

"No!" Jensen said firmly, then he stopped looking so sure. He really didn't want to talk about it, but if Jared really was the reason behind this aura change, Jensen couldn't afford to withhold the information, even though it would probably ended up humiliating him.

"Well," he amended. "I might've come... close. I've met this White Court vampire and, uhm... He..."

Before he managed to embarrass himself even further, Chad started to shake his head.

"No, no, no. White Court doesn't count, even though they're awesome sexual partners, you should totally go for it later. But sex with that vamp of yours would maybe, possibly, if you're very gay for him taint your aura silver. At best. If you were together for a long time. This would be a strictly Red Court affair. They have a _slight_ blood kink, you might say."

"I try to stay away from Red Court as much as possible. Yesterday, four of them did try to kill me, if that counts..."

“Not really.” Chad dismissed that concern with a wave of his hand. “Red Court wants to feed on or kill everyone.”

Jensen was even more bewildered, it was the only thing he could think of, and it made him feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Something must have shown on his face, because Chad just rolled his eyes.

"Moving on. And I need you to be perfectly honest with me. Have you been flirting with the Dark Side? And remember we're all friends here. Everybody wets their fingers in blood, from time to time. It keeps life interesting."

"What?" Jensen asked confused, because he really didn't know what Chad was talking about.

"Did you perform any sort of blood rituals, human sacrifices. Hell, sacrifices of any kind would probably do with a do-gooder like you..."

"No! Jesus, Chad. I'm clean of that! The White Council would have my head if I tried dark magic!"

"Well I'm running out of ideas here, man. You have absolutely no sex life to speak of. Which, by the way, is really sad, and there's very few ways you can get tainted like that! Did you get bonded to somebody heavily exposed to blood?"

"I have no sex life, as you so kindly pointed out! Who would I bond myself to?!" he might've been yelling at that point.

"Oh you'd be surprised. It happens more often than you'd think. One moment you're strolling down the street after a glorious week at a whore house, the next you're bonded to a damn skull and not getting any for centuries to come."

Jensen took a deep breath to calm himself down. It would be no use for him to get irritated with Chad, he needed the spirit.

"No, Chad," he said in a carefully controlled voice. "I haven't bonded myself to anyone or anything lately."

"Then you're lying to me about something, or you’re too stupid to know it. With no exposure to blood magic, not being a blood mage, not being a vampire, there's no fucking way your aura would suddenly go red! Even if you fell into a nest of succubi, your aura wouldn't change color that drastically! Damn it, Jenny! I need some blood magic connection to work with here! I'm a fucking spirit of intellect, I _hate_ not knowing shit!"

Chad was usually a very laid back guy, outbursts like that were completely out of character, so seeing him that frustrated made Jensen think.

" **Any** blood magic connection?" he asked carefully.

"Yes! If you performed a spell while on your period, I'll take that!"

"A month ago, I... I retrieved a blood magic amulet the Red Court was hiding..." he started hesitantly, but Chad nodded encouraging him to go on. "I... Might've cast a fire spell with it? I didn't mean to! But I was holding it at the time and maybe... possibly... some energy transferred into the spell..."

To his credit Chad didn't murder Jensen right on the spot, even though it was clear to Jensen that he really wanted to.

Instead, he just sighed heavily and shook his head.

"How. I'm asking you. How did you manage to survive this long, if you're such an idiot?" Chad asked. For the first time since he’d known Chad, Jensen didn't hear any indication that Chad was mocking him, or teasing him or even propositioning him. It was as if he was honestly wondered how did Jensen survive.

Jensen didn't like the implication.

"Chad, I don't think you're--"

"Yes! Exactly!" Chad interrupted him. "That's exactly your problem! You don't think. You didn't think. And in that incredible vacuum of thought you established a link to a blood magic artifact. Which I have to assume was quite powerful if the Red Court wanted it and if it did _that_ to your aura."

"But--"

"I'm not done yet! Do I look like I'm done, you moronic Potter wannabe? No." Chad glared at him. "Linking yourself to a powerful artifact like that gave you a new source of magical energy. And I’ll bet you didn't even destroy the damn amulet. Instead, you’ve been tapping into that magic, probably without even noticing, you poor stupid bastard."

He turned around and walked deeper into the store. After a moment of hesitation, Jensen followed him, just in time to hear the spirit mutter to himself, "just when I find a wizard who doesn't want to bind me to do his bidding, he turns to be a moron..."

Jensen watched him walk up to the shelves in the far end of the store and go through the books there. He picked up volumes, reading the index page and discarding them without care for where they fell.

Finally, he found what he was looking for. He took the book and turned his attention back to Jensen.

"Okay, game time decision. You have three choices. You can start dabbling in blood magic and move to a short career as a warlock, which I hear is a very profitable venue, up until the point where they chop your head off. You can destroy the artifact, effectively destroying the link to it, which I would call the difficult option. Thirdly, you can perform a ritual, a difficult _and_ time consuming option, to sever the link and cleanse yourself until there's no trace left of the blood magic in your aura."

He shoved the book at Jensen.

"Blood magic 101," he said. "Don't let your White Council of Holier-Than-Thou Fucks find it on you. I swear Jenny, you owe me for this so much, you'll be sending me paperbacks till Christmas."

Jensen reached inside his jacket without a word and handed Chad the four books he’d brought with him.

Chad nodded, accepting the payment. "It's a good start, keep them coming. Now get out. Your stupidity is like anti-Viagra for me and it might be catching."

~*~

Jensen got back to his apartment almost on autopilot. All he could think of was the choices Chad laid out before him. There was no way he would ever consciously use dark magic, even though he could recognize the symptoms in himself, now that he knew what to look for.

His options were to destroy the amulet or trying to sever the link with it, using the ritual he would no doubt find in the book Chad gave him. The worst thing was the fact that he would have to wait to complete the ritual until the case was closed. He didn't know how long the ritual would take and he couldn't leave himself, or Kane, vulnerable right now.

He could only hope he wouldn't have to throw his magical weight around too much, risking binding himself more tightly to the amulet and using too much of its power.

He reached the door of his apartment, only to discover it unlocked. It was as if the world just didn't want to give Jensen a break.

He started to gather his energy in case he had to cast a shield, only to stop what he was doing. He couldn't use magic at every moment, he reminded himself. Not unless he wanted to lose himself in the blood later. So he took a deep breath, feeling his body tense up, ready to run if necessary and walked in.

"Hey, how did it go?" Jared asked from the couch and Jensen wanted to strangle him right there and then for giving him a scare like that. Not that he was scared, he was perfectly capable of looking after himself even without his magic.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, instead of answering Jared's question.

"I have an all-access pass?" Jared said with a frown, as if surprised Jensen already forgotten. As if could.

"You were supposed to go help Kane," he pointed out and Jared had a decency to look a little guilty.

"I was worried," the vampire admitted. "You were pretty freaked out when you left and it was freaking me out, because for all your big talk about how screwed we are at any given moment, you never really lose your calm. I wanted to make sure you were okay." Jared looked at him with those puppy dog eyes of his that always made Jensen wonder if they were standard for all White Court vampires, or just pure Jared. Either way, they never failed to work on Jensen.

"I'm okay," Jensen told him, "well, as okay as I could be while harvesting an active link to that blood amulet we retrieved from the Red Court last month. Apparently I've been tapping into its power ever since I touched it."

"Holy shit, Jen! That's serious stuff," before Jensen could blink Jared was standing next to him, his hands hovering over his arms, like he wanted to touch Jensen but was afraid of his reaction.

"I know. After we're done with this case, I'll have to take a sabbatical to perform a really long and difficult ritual. That, or I let the White Council chop of my head," he smiled unconvincingly, attempting a joke.

Jared opened his mouth, probably to tell Jensen his attempts at humor where not successful when a cell phone rang. Jared hesitated, but in the end, he reached into his back pocket and answered the call.

"Padalecki. Okay, we're on our way," he said and ended the call. He looked at Jensen and. "That was Kane. He needs us back at the precinct asap."

~*~

Jensen didn't want to go to the precinct, for various reasons starting with the whole atmosphere of the place, which had been getting to him one moment only to not bother him at all the next, and finishing with his current problem with magic, he had to admit it was worth it in the end. When he and Jared arrived, they saw Kane assembling a team of uniforms and one or two SWAT members who were more well-versed than the rest in facing the supernatural.

"Is there a party?" Jensen asked with a frown when they reached Kane.

"Oh yeah, princess," Chris told him with a smile. "Dust off your best tiara, because we got a warrant to search Salem. While you and Paddywhack were away, 'resting'," Jensen could hear the air quotes around that word, "I found a witness, who can place our missing girl in Salem right before her disappearance. Because this is a homicide investigation, we have legal right to believe that Jessica is in imminent danger, or dead already. And Judge Singer is all about catching murderers."

Jensen couldn't help but smile at Kane's enthusiasm. Chris had every reason to be happy about this turn of events. Things went their way so rarely they had learned to appreciate every positive turn of events.

"Here's the plan," Kane continued. "Jay is going to stay here, like the good little rookie that he is, even though he ignores that fact very often, and he's going to follow up on the Morgan-Dobrev connection. We need this to be an air-tight case if we want anything to stick. Jensen is going to go with me and the team and he's going to do his mumbo jumbo thing to see if he can trace Jessica from there."

Jensen's smile disappeared. Of course Kane wanted him to do magic, why else would he call his _magic consultant_. No one had told Chris that Jensen had to stop using magic for the time being.

With a glance to the side, he saw Jared's face become a blank mask, but not before he caught a glimpse of worry in his eyes.

"Okay people," Kane raised his voice, oblivious to Jensen's worries. "Let's go and party!"

~*~

It was weird to walk into Salem during the day. Everything looked different, the mystery stripped away in the daylight.

There was no troll-like bouncer at the entrance, no crowd inside. Kane wielded the warrant like it was the most powerful artifact, and in his world it was. In Morgan’s too, because the non-magical day staff let them in without a fuss. Before Jensen could process what they were doing, the uniforms and SWAT were searching the place and Kane was talking to a man Jensen assumed to be the manager. Even though it seemed ridiculous, some part of him was surprised that Morgan wasn't managing the place himself.

With everybody doing their job, it was time for Jensen to do his. His options were more limited this time, not only with the restraint he put on himself to minimize the risk of taking too much dark energy, but also due to all the people swarming the place.

Thaumaturgical reading would only give him a headache, since Salem was full of supernatural creatures every night. Aura reading would probably blind him, not to mention he wasn't particularly eager to see his own aura...

He looked around, desperately trying to think of something. He watched the uniforms check even the smallest spaces, as if Jessica could have fit there.

Jessica, he realized. They were looking for Jessica. He could look for Jessica. He didn't need a map or a ritual. He was in the last place he had tracked her to. She had never left, all he had to do now was find the traces of his location spell.

He closed his eyes and recreated what he saw and experienced when he cast the locator spell in his apartment. Every being, human or not, every soul was as distinctive as a fingerprint. He could use that. With little effort on his part, he could tune himself to Jessica's residue energy and just follow it to where she was.

When he opened his eyes everything around him looked the same. He wasn’t looking for auras, so none were visible and everyone was going about their business. He turned around, his eyes looking for even the faintest hint of orange that was the indicator he’d cast for Jessica.

Finally he saw it. A thin orange line twirling near the bar, almost invisible already, then leading to the door on the far right.

"Kane!" he said loudly, not taking his eyes off of the magical lead. He started to walk towards the door.

"Hey! You can't go there!" he heard behind him. He assumed it was the manager.

"The warrant covers the entire place," Kane's voice was firm and close to Jensen. He was following him, good.

When he reached the door, he hesitated.

"Chris?" he asked quietly. He didn't want to look back, afraid he'd lose the only lead he had at the moment.

"I'm here, man," Kane replied letting him now he was close behind.

"At some point she was sitting at the bar. After that, she walked, or was forced to walk, or something, towards those doors. I don't know what's behind the doors, but the trace is really faint so I can either hold onto the magic line, or cast defensive spells..."

He gave Chris a moment to process what he was saying. Then, he heard a gun being drawn from its holster.

"I’ve got your back," there was no hesitation in Kane's voice and Jensen really appreciated that, he would probably never tell his friend how much comfort he was taking from the fact that Chris was ready to shoot whatever it was they'd find on the other side.

With a final nod, he opened the door and walked through them, knowing that Chris wouldn't be far behind.

There was a well lit corridor with doors on each side. Jensen assumed they were leading to security offices or backrooms, or whatever it was that clubs like Salem and crime lords in bed with vampires needed around. The orange trace he was following didn't seem to be disappearing behind any of those doors, so he ignored them, hoping that if someone, or something, came out Kane would shoot it first.

He walked slowly towards the end of the corridor and turned left. He found himself at a staircase and Jessica’s trace, now stronger, was leading down.

As they made their way down the stairs, he could hear Kane muttering to himself about the possibility of walking into a trap and how it didn't work out all that well the last time they checked things out. They had ended up with smoke inhalation and obligatory downtime after the vampire they wanted to interrogate took offense to Jensen walking where he wasn't supposed to.

"Only this time we're going underground and my rookie's at the precinct where I left him..." Chris trailed off

They entered a tunnel that led them even further away from the club.

"You really want me to try and comfort you and jinx us in the process?" Jensen asked in a hushed tone.

"I'd rather you comfort me with a big shiny shield around us, but I'll deal," came a quick response. "And where the hell are you leading us? I'm pretty sure we're no longer under Salem."

Jensen was about to respond when the magical trace, more solid and easier to follow, took a rapid turn and disappeared behind yet another door.

"I think this is it," he said, not entirely sure why he thought they reached their destination.

He turned to look at Kane, who just nodded at him and raised his gun a bit higher. That was their entire communication, but weirdly enough Jensen understood every word that hadn’t been spoken.

They moved to opposite sides of the doors. Jensen counted in his head to three, knowing that Chris was doing the same. On three he opened the door and Chris moved inside.

"Christ," he heard. It made him look inside. What he saw sent shivers down his spine.

The room, or what he assumed was a room, was filled with an angry red aura that used to be Jessica’s. The magic lines moving inside the room, wrapped themselves around Chris, who was just looking around. He didn't seem to be affected by the magical energy in the room, but then again, he was a vanilla mortal. Jensen found the sight very unsettling and there was no telling what the residual magic could do to a mortal like Chris.

"Kane," Jensen said sharply. "I need you to leave that room, right now."

Maybe it was the urgency in his voice, but Kane just turned around with a frown, took in Jensen's face and quickly retreated from the room.

"What's going on?"

"I could barely see the room, it's so packed... It's full of dark energy and I really don't like what that means."

"Whatever it means, Jensen, we need to get CSU here. They need to take samples of all the dried blood, and... This is a crime scene now."

"I know whose blood it is," Jensen said seriously. "It's Jessica’s. They bled her to death. They sacrificed her in a blood magic ritual to try and link her to the amulet we retrieved a month ago."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know the signature of the amulet and the magic in that room reeks of that thing."

~*~

Jensen didn't like what they found in the basement, and it affected him far more than he'd like to admit. He was shocked that he was able to recognize the amulet's signature without any prior study. It proved exactly how screwed he was, though he didn't want to share that particular bit of information with Chris.

While Jensen was left to his inner struggles and worries, Kane called in the crime scene and in no time, the place was full of people walking in and out. Chris was in full-on detective in charge mode and Jensen soon found himself back at the precinct, looking through a two-way mirror at Jeff Morgan, New York's very own crime lord, sitting in the interrogation room, chatting with his lawyer, as if he wasn’t being held on suspicion of murder.

He watched as Chris entered the room and sat with his back to the mirror.

"Mr. Morgan, thank you for coming in, I just have a few questions for you."

Kane's polite demeanor made Jensen frown with confusion. That wasn't what was supposed to happen. Kane was supposed to barge in, put Morgan in handcuffs and arrest him for murdering two innocent college girls.

"My client has nothing to do with the murders you're investigating, Detective. Can we just agree on that and move on?" Morgan's lawyer asked bluntly.

"The blood that we found on a crime scene under Mr. Morgan's building would beg to differ. The samples belong to one of our victims."

"Look Detective, I'm far too expensive to waste my time in this shithole of a precinct being interrogated by a pathetic excuse for a detective from a unit that is a waste of taxpayer’s money, and nobody cares about or respects," Morgan's lawyer leaned forward and spoke confidently. "So I'm going to cut this short and tell you how this is going to play out. Feel free to correct me the moment I get something wrong," he smirked.

"You're going to try and pin the murder of the lovely Miss Jessica Alba on my client. It's going to fail, because the crime scene you talked about isn't under his building, but under the next one, which he doesn't own. You don't have a body, and you don't even have a valid connection to Mr. Morgan. All you have is a wizard who followed a magical trace from my client's club to the crime scene. So let us move to the evidence you actually have, which coincidentally is completely inadmissible in a court of law. You have aura readings, which there is no need for me to contest, as they are inadmissible. You imply there is a connection between my client and the Red Court vampire known as Nina Dobrev. For all you know they are having the love affair of the century, but as long as Ms Dobrev doesn't decide Mr. Morgan should spend eternity with her, against his will, you don't have a criminal case. So... Is my client free?"

Jensen shook his head. He couldn't watch it anymore. He could see the situation getting to Chris, his shoulders tensing up. There was a possibility Kane would snap and do something stupid, after all, he never did manage to complete that anger management class.

He left the observation room to wait in the hallway, all ready to calm Chris down. To his surprise Kane didn't storm out of interrogation and Jensen spent the next five minutes leaning against the wall.

When the door to the interrogation room did open, Morgan and his lawyer left first.

Morgan stopped on his way out and looked at Jensen with a smug smile.

"Mr. Ackles. I’ve heard a lot about you," he said in a rich, deep voice that Jensen was hearing for the first time. "But I'm surprised to see you in such good health. I was led to believe you had... an unfortunate accident."

Jensen could feel his fingers clench into a fist.

"If by an accident you mean your Red Court friends attacking me to try and stop me from linking your little enterprise to Tyra and Jessica’s death, then yes. I had an accident, I'm all better now."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Morgan informed him pleasantly. "It doesn't matter though. It's time for you to realize that there's nothing you and your cop friend can do. All your meddling is just a small setback, one we can easily work around. And soon, your meddling won't even register on our radar. I hate to break it to you, Mr. Ackles, but even if you were a really good wizard, you can't take on an entire vampire court. So stop trying."

With that he sent Jensen a final smug smile and nodded to his lawyer. Jensen watched them walk across the bullpen and enter the elevator.

"You just watch me," he said to himself an entirely new plan forming in his head.

~*~

Jensen didn't tell anyone where he was going, when he left the precinct. He knew well enough that Chris and Jared would probably think the plan had no chance of succeeding. Or worse, they wouldn't try to stop him but would instead insist on tagging along.

So there he was, veiled and sneaking into the Empire Hotel, the front for New York’s Red Court. His plan was really simple. Get in, have a friendly chat with Ms Dobrev at the end of which she would hopefully die, and get out, killing as many vampires on his way as possible.

It wasn't a perfect plan, but Morgan was right. There was no way they would be able to get justice using the human legal system. More people would die. He couldn't let that happen.

He moved carefully through the service staircase and numerous hallways, trying to track down what he was looking for. In the back of his mind there was a nagging feeling telling him to hurry up before his veil flickered out like his shield had done when the vampires attacked him.

"Jeff was right," a voice behind him took him by surprise. "You're not a very good wizard."

He turned around ready to fight, only to find himself facing a teenage girl, nineteen at most, in a pink silk nightgown. She rolled her eyes.

"It's rude to stare," she told him flatly and walked passed him, into the penthouse suite. When Jensen didn't move she stopped and turned her head slightly. "Well, come on, you went to all that effort to come here. We might as well chat before I kill you."

Two vampires appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Jensen's arms, dragging him inside.

"You're not going to get away with this," he said, struggling with the vampires that held him in place.

"You will need to be a little more specific," Dobrev replied without paying much attention to him, distracted by the young man cutting his wrist and bleeding into a crystal cup. "I've been around for a while now, and I assure you, I got away with a lot."

"Jessica. Tyra," he reminded her. "The women you and Morgan murdered to harvest the power of the blood amulet."

With a flick of her wrist she sent the bleeding boy away, taking the now-full cup and taking a sip.

"I don't know who those women you mention are, but we have finally gotten to the actual problem. Where's my amulet, wizard?"

"Safe. You're not going to find it, so you can give up. You and Morgan won't be able to channel its power."

A frown appeared on the vampire's perfect face.

"Why would I let a mortal channel blood magic? It would only upset the balance in the city. I rule the Red Court vampires in New York, wizard, why would I share power with anyone?"

It was Jensen's turn to frown. He was obviously missing something.

"Then why did you slaughter Jessica trying to recreate the amulet. You sent your vampires after me, because I connected Tyra's death to you..."

"I sent my vampires after you because you stole something from me. I don't know the women you keep mentioning. Even if I had killed them, why would I care if anybody tried to connect their deaths to me? Did you miss the part when I basically rule this city?"

She took a long sip of the blood she was holding and watched him for a long moment with cold, calculating eyes.

"Answer me this, wizard, and I might decide to let you live..." She sat in a big armchair that made her look even younger. "Why do you keep interrupting? My plans to bind Morgan and use his connections to expand my influence beyond New York shouldn't interest you... It wouldn't affect your precious little mortals, it's pure politics. Yet you keep messing everything up. Why?"

"You're scheming with Morgan...You're upsetting the balance--" he said.

"No, I'm not," she interrupted him with a cruel tone. "I have an understanding with the White King. We can both expand our influence base wherever we want to as long as the status quo in New York remains untouched. You're the one upsetting the balance. Your meddling made my Court look weak. There are whispers in the community that if we can't keep one little wizard at bay, we shouldn't have power in the city. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have to plot with creatures I can barely tolerate to keep Fearie queens from taking a chunk out of my territory!" she sneered and threw the crystal she was holding to the side. It shattered on the wall, the blood splattering everywhere.

"Faeries," Jensen whispered, looking with shocked wide eyes at the Red Court Queen. "Adrienne."

"Who else?" Nina looked at him like he was an idiot. And at that moment he truly felt like one.

"She planned it. She planned it all..." he whispered, more to himself than to the vampire.

Nina frowned and looked at him carefully. After a moment she sent the vampires holding Jensen down away.

"What are you talking about?"

Jensen hadn’t even noticed that they were now alone in the room, too preoccupied with the conclusions he’d arrived at.

"Wizard," a steel tone in the vampire's voice pulled him back.

"A month ago,” Jensen began, “the police found a body in Central park, it was a murder with heavy traces of dark magic. When I got home, Adrienne was in my apartment, warning me to leave the case alone and not investigate any further."

"Which made you do the opposite. Just like when Jeff told you that you couldn't take on my Court," there was a smile playing on her face. "She played you."

He nodded, even though he really hated to admit to that.

"And then, after I retrieved the amulet--"

"After you stole the amulet," she corrected him pleasantly.

"After I _got_ the amulet and nobody made another move... I assumed the balance was restored," he watched her nod confirming his theory, "and nothing happened for a month. And then Jessica disappeared and her roommate Tyra hired me to find her. Only she was killed before I could do anything. Everything about her death pointed towards vampires. Red Court vampires."

"And you started to meddle again," she finished. "You created the appearance that my Court is weak. Allowing Adrienne to move into my territory in a way that wouldn't be perceived as an act of aggression, merely..."

"Restoring the balance."

They watched each other in silence for a few moments. And then she smiled a smile that made Jensen worry about his life.

"I have an offer for you, wizard," she said, settling more comfortably in her chair.

~*~

Even as he walked into his apartment, he couldn't believe he had actually agreed to the offer the vampire queen made him. It was one thing to overlook the fact that Jared was a White Court vampire feeding on people's life force. Jared wasn't going around killing people left and right.

It was a completely different thing to actively provide the Red Court Queen with a powerful artifact so that she could consolidate her power in the city. But Nina's arguments made a lot of sense to Jensen. Better the devil you know. The enemy, you could actually kill. The monster that couldn't cross your threshold unless invited in.

If he kept telling himself that, he wouldn't feel so guilty. Maybe.

He had still made the deal, and he had to meet the terms, he told himself as he moved the armchair in his bedroom and moved the carpet underneath. It revealed a hidden hatch where he had put the blood amulet to keep it safe. Nobody would look for it there.

As he retrieved the amulet from its hiding place, he felt everything around him shift.

"Oh Jensen," a soft, silky smooth voice sounded in his ears. "And you were doing so well..."

He wrapped the chain the amulet was hanging on around his wrist until the amulet itself rested on his palm. He felt the dark energy pulsing in his hand, all ready for use. He turned slowly.

Adrienne, the cold Faerie Queen was standing right there, in the middle of his bedroom.

"You think you can just play me like that?" he asked mostly to buy himself some time.

"My precious Jensen... I never once lied to you. I told you if you didn't leave that case alone you would get hurt."

"I'm still standing," he told her with some pride. He wasn't that easy to kill.

"And you'll remain so. Just give me the amulet. Or keep it hidden as you've done so far. You don't really care about supernatural politics, do you? Just step away and everything will be fine," she told him gently.

Jensen took a deep breath.

"No."

He put all his energy into that one word and raised his shields as the words formed on his lips. He saw pure rage on Adrienne's face, the faerie queen wasn't used to not getting her way.

He felt incredible power hit his shields and go right through them, slamming into him. He couldn't help the scream that escaped his lips as he was smashed against the wall, pain shooting through his entire body. As he slipped onto the floor, the pain of the impact didn't fade. It held him in a crushing grip, making it difficult to think.

"You really thought you were a match for me, Jensen? You're just a mortal..."

He tried to catch his breath but his lungs were refusing to cooperate. He could taste the blood that was filling his mouth. This was it, he realized. If he didn't do something, he'd die right there and then.

No. This wasn't going to happen.

He tightened his grip on the amulet he was still holding and swallowed the blood that filled his mouth. He felt the power tease at his fingertips and he accepted it all. He felt hot rage fill him, replacing the pain.

He wouldn't die today. Instead, he'd banish the faerie bitch back to where she came from.

He slowly got to his feet again and looked back at Adrienne, who was watching him with a frown, not understanding what was happening.

His vision turned red as he screamed and threw the amulet at her along with all the energy and the bloody power he had gathered. He could feel reality shift and bend. He could have sworn he heard her scream, but before he could be sure, his vision blurred. Red turned into black and the only thought in his mind before he lost consciousness was 'not again'...

~*~

He woke up to a beeping sound and sharp, hospital smell. As he opened his eyes he experienced the strongest feeling of déjà vu. It hadn’t been a month, since he was in the hospital following the very first spell he cast with the blood amulet.

He half expected to see Jared in the chair next to his bed, telling him he enjoyed that "thing that they had going on".

Instead, he saw Steve, reading an old looking book. Jensen frowned when he realized it was the book on blood magic that he got from Chad.

He must've made a sound, because Steve looked up from the book and smile.

"Jensen," he smiled warmly. "You're awake."

Jensen tried propping himself on the pillows, only to collapse again because of the pain.

"I really wish I wasn't..."

"It'll pass," Steve assured him. "You'll heal quickly."

Jensen couldn't help but smile. Then he looked around.

"What happened? Where is everybody?"

"Christian is at the precinct, covering up what happened at your apartment. Jared's busy negotiating with the vampire Courts to ensure Faeries can't enter the city. He took what happened to you very personally."

There it was again. Steve talking about things he shouldn't have known.

"How... How is it that you know about all this?" he asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

"You don't really want to know," Steve said, not even warning Jensen, more like stating a fact. "If you did, I would be compelled to tell you. So just rest."

Jensen tried thinking straight, but failed miserably. The pain kept his thoughts scattered. They could talk about serious issues when he felt better. In the meantime...

"How did I even get here?"

"Ah. Jared found you. He got worried when he couldn't get in touch with you. Luckily, your wards didn't keep him out this time."

"I... allowed him in. After the attack."

"You trust him." It wasn't really a question. Once again Steve was stating a fact, but what Jensen was truly grateful for was a complete lack of judgment in his tone.

"I shouldn't," Jensen admitted, closing his eyes. If he closed his eyes he could at least pretend that the problems he was facing weren't really his. "The things I feel for him aren't even real." There it was, the doubt and guilt, all wrapped up in one sentence.

"Jensen, look at me." Steve said firmly and waited patiently until Jensen opened his eyes again.

"White Court vampires can't make you feel anything you don't want. They take your feelings and heighten them, emphasize them. But they can't create them out of nothing."

"But that means..." Jensen hesitated.

Steve just smiled. "Yeah."

Everything else faded, but the awareness that at least this one thing was true. One circumstance that he hadn’t been manipulated into. He felt a grin spread across his face.

"You do realize," Steve said, "that I will have to share this particular moment with Christian. I feel like I should apologize beforehand for all the mocking you will have to endure."

Jensen chuckled, even though his ribs tried to protest. He could handle a little mocking. It was to be expected. Yet another thing Jensen could be sure of.

>>>

**Author's Note:**

> When I wrote Semiautomagic last year, I was surprised how many people commented and said they loved the fic. Semiautomagic was supposed to be something of a crack, it was supposed to be me, scratching an itch left after reading the Dresden Files series. It was an open and shut case for me.
> 
> I wrote Misspelled because people yelled at me. And tried to bribe me.
> 
> Last year, people felt like one fic wasn't enough. And because this sort of demand was very new to me, I gave in. Therefore, it only feels fair to dedicate this fic to every single person who commented on Semiautomagic and demanded more.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> Some of you will probably notice this, but when writing Misspelled I kept the structure of the fic similar (if not the same) to Semiautomagic. There are scenes that are complete mirrors of the events in the previous fic. There are things said, that were paraphrased from the previous fic. I had characters commenting on those similarities.
> 
> In a way it's a little wink to the people who've read the previous fic, but the other reason why I did that is because both those stories are so closely connected, it's more than just simple cause and effect matter.
> 
> Once again I used a heavy Jensen POV,restricting my and yours view of the bigger picture. Because it's Jensen's life and Jensen's story, you don't see Kane's work to solve the case, you don't know why he was so calm and collected in the interrogation room. You don't see Jared's life as a White Court vampire and you don't get the answers as to who or what Steve is.
> 
> I hope those unknowns didn't cause you enjoy the fic less. I made a conscious choice to not give you everything on a silver platter, to leave everybody wondering.
> 
> There are questions that will eventually be answered, but there are things Jensen will never know, which means the readers will also be left hanging.
> 
> Thanks:
> 
> This story wouldn't even happen if it wasn't for the followng people:
> 
> [info]kubis who once again acted as a cheerleader, encouraging me, replying to my frantic texts in the middle of the night and giving me all the support in the world. If anyone would ever start a Kubis Church, I'd be the first one to join. She deserves all the love and worship possible.
> 
> [info]beadslut who is the best beta in the entire universe. I would honestly tell this to every single writer friend I have if I wasn't afraid she'd get so many requests that she wouldn't have time for me anymore. Her patience and attention to detail made this fic what it is today. And even my lack of grammar skills and abuse of ellipses didn't discourage her.
> 
> [info]thehighwaywoman who added to my own enthusiasm and created a vid/trailer for this fic. I told her once at the very beginning that this universe is running purely on enthusiasm. It's true, and her enthusiasm fueled my confidence and made me excited about my own work, for which I am incredibly grateful.
> 
> And finally [info]wendy for running the bigbang and being so supportive not only to me but to every single writer (though, obviously, it felt like she loved me best and everybody else was just filling her time in between my comments XD)


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